FBI Director Robert Mueller refused to answer questions Wednesday during an FBI oversight hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee about the administration's domestic spying program , saying the information is classified. Mueller, who acknowledged that information about the program had been divulged to congressional intelligence committees, claimed that the classified status of the materials [...]
The Australian Parliament Wednesday voted to lift restrictions on stem cell research and permit the therapeutic cloning of human embryos. Members of the House of Representatives voted 82-62 in favor of lifting the previous therapeutic cloning ban; the Senate approved the measure last month. The House vote followed a contentious debate, with Australian Prime Minister [...]
A court in Yemen on Wednesday found Mohammad al-Assadi guilty of denigrating Islam and fined him 500,000 rials ($2,541) for republishing offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad earlier this year. Al-Assadi, editor of the Yemen Observer , said the guilty verdict was "baseless" and that he would appeal the decision. The newspaper temporarily had its [...]
The Cambodian government is interfering with the adoption of court rules to govern the upcoming Khmer Rouge genocide trials, advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday. Tribunal judges convened last month to establish court rules for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) , which is scheduled to begin trials for surviving [...]
Fiji military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama declared a state of emergency Wednesday and appointed a new prime minister and head of police in the South Pacific island nation after overthrowing the government in a military coup Tuesday. In a statement released over the radio Tuesday evening, Bainimarama dismissed criticism of the coup and vowed that [...]
Saddam Hussein appeared in court Wednesday, despite an earlier vow not to attend future proceedings in his genocide trial, and looked on as presiding Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa called a final witness for the prosecution. The prosecution has presented more that 70 witnesses, including several US forensic experts describing mass graves believed to be the [...]
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said Tuesday that it will appeal a November ruling ordering the agency to reinstate certain housing payments for victims of Hurricane Katrina due to FEMA's failure to clearly explain to evacuees why they were denied housing assistance under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act . US District [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist George Williams of the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law in Sydney, Australia, says that although Australians have historically shied away from establishing a national Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties, the recent proliferation of tough Australian anti-terrorism laws strengthens the case for such a document… Australia is the [...]
Australia's Federal Court has agreed to hold a hearing next week to consider a petition filed Wednesday by lawyers for Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks . Hicks' lawyers have asked the court to direct the federal government, including Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer , to negotiate Hicks' release from the [...]
A US District Court judge has refused to entertain a motion to stay the execution of Saddam Hussein that was filed by Italian advocate Giovanni di Stefano , an advisor to Hussein's defense team. US District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected the motion because di Stefano is not admitted to practice before the US District Court [...]
