Seventy-eight people have been charged with bankruptcy fraud and related counts as a result of a nationwide federal law enforcement sweep entitled "Operation Truth or Consequences," a top US Department of Justice (DOJ) official announced Wednesday. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty said the charges arose out of 18 separate cases of bankruptcy fraud and [...]
Four US soldiers implicated in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area in March have been referred to trial by general court-martial, military officials at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, announced Wednesday. Two of the soldiers, Pfc. Jesse Spielman and Sgt. Paul Cortez, [...]
US Army Col. Richard Basset traveled to the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay Wednesday to begin an investigation into accusations of abuse . The US Defense Department last week ordered US Southern Command , which oversees the military facility, to investigate allegations that military guards beat detainees and took away their personal items for [...]
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair blamed judges and political opponents for the disappearance of two terror suspects during his monthly news conference on Wednesday, insisting that his attempts to enact stronger terrorism legislation "were prevented by opposition in Parliament and then by the courts in ensuring that was done." The missing uncharged suspects were under [...]
The father of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has said that Hicks' defense team will challenge the Military Commissions Act of 2006 signed into law by President Bush Tuesday. Terry Hicks said Tuesday that the new legislation leaves the previous system for military commissions virtually intact, although it was ruled unconstitutional by the US [...]
The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , claiming the agencies illegally employed information from databases such as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which tracks predominantly Muslim visitors, immigrants, and students to the US. The lawsuit, filed [...]
Russian hockey team Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Wednesday sued Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the NHL in a dispute over the star hockey player's move from Russia to the National Hockey League, the second such lawsuit to be filed this week by a Russian Super Hockey League team. The lawsuit, seeking an injunction blocking Malkin [...]
Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews has defended a new crime bill introduced by the country's Conservative Party government which could require repeat criminal offenders to convince courts that they are no longer dangerous instead of requiring Crown prosecutors to establish a continuing threat. Toews resisted criticism calling the proposed law unconstitutional, saying the presumption of [...]
Defense lawyers acting for Saddam Hussein in his genocide trial again failed to appear in court Wednesday, despite an agreement with the chief judge allowing them to rejoin the proceedings. The lawyers have been boycotting the trial to protest the behavior of Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, appointed by the Iraqi government after the original [...]
The Turkish Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning a French bill that criminalizes any refusal to characterize the WWI-era mass killings of Armenians in Turkey as genocide, but did not take any further retaliatory action. The bill passed France's lower house last week but still needs approval by the French Senate and President Jacques [...]
