The US Senate on Thursday passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 , which would increase the maximum FCC indecency fines per station by a multiple of ten, from $32,500 to $325,000 per violation. The bill was discharged by unanimous consent from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation , and was unanimously [...]
Khaled el-Masri v. George Tenet, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Judge T.S. Ellis III, May 18, 2006 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
A Russian court-martial sitting at a military base outside Khabarovsk in the far east of the country has sentenced Sergeant Dmitry Nagaitsev to five years in prison after he was convicted of abusing his rank and degradation for beating a private at an eastern Russian military base. Private Yevgeny Koblov suffered a nervous breakdown as [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour Friday wrapped up her first visit to Cambodia by saying that the country must develop an independent judiciary and allow NGOs to operate effectively in order to protect the human rights of Cambodian citizens. The visit was arranged to strengthen ties between the UN and Cambodia, which [...]
Michael J. Kelly : "From the perspective of the outside world, Gen. Michael Hayden's decision to wear his military uniform makes it appear that the military is taking over the CIA. And from their perspective, about the only thing worse than the CIA after Iraq is the U.S. military. Perspective matters. This administration doesn't take [...]
The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California Thursday released a grand jury indictment of leading US class-action law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman and partners David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman for allegedly paying over $2.4 million to Palm Springs attorneys Seymour Lazar and Paul Seltzer and others since 1984 [...]
The United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) said Friday in a report on its annual review of US compliance with the Convention Against Torture that the United States should shut down its prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay . The report also urged the US to end the practice of extraordinary rendition and release [...]
Four detainees at Guantanamo Bay attempted to commit suicide on Thursday, and several other prisoners attacked US soldiers who tried to intervene, according to a US military spokesman. Three of the detainees ingested a large amount of prescription drugs they had stockpiled, and were treated with activated charcoal. The last detainee tried to hang himself, [...]
Judge Patricia Williams of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington on Thursday rejected a $45.7 million settlement agreement offered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane to 75 clergy sex abuse complainants in February. William ruled that because the settlement only covered 75 of approximately 185 abuse complaints against the diocese, [...]
Fifteen Saudi detainees who were being held at Guantanamo Bay arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday. The US transferred the detainees to Saudi custody after the transfers were approved by a Guantanamo Administrative Review Board . Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Wednesday said that 16 Saudi detainees would be returned to the country, where [...]
