Lobbyist Jack Abramoff , once a close friend of US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay , was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on bank fraud charges. The charges are related to a 2000 purchase by Abramoff and his partners of SunCruz Casinos and an alleged phony wire transfer that defrauded two lenders financing [...]

Leading Thursday's states brief, the Oregon Supreme Court has denied a timber company state compensation after the company was barred from logging trees around a bald eagle's nest by ruling today that state wildlife regulation of private property in the form of barring logging does not amount to a taking. Furthermore, the court found that [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency will soon release federal standards regulating how data from toxic pesticide studies on humans can be used, but politicians and some medical experts are claiming that children and pregnant women involved in the studies may be at risk. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility , who received an early copy of the [...]

A court in Switzerland ruled Thursday that the arrest of former Russian Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov complied with the law. A source at the Russian embassy in Bern said both the US and Russian requests for Adamov's extradition were also found to be legal. Adamov, formerly in charge of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency [...]

Haitian Justice Minister Henri Dorlean on Wednesday pressed for the release or expedited trial of hundreds of prisoners being detained without charge. Dorlean said it was a violation of human rights for judges and prosecutors to use their positions to hold individuals in jail in violation of the law and he also called on authorities [...]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that the United Nations would be increasing surveillance of its procurement department after recent accusations that a senior official accepted close to $1 million in bribes from contractors. An internal investigative team at the UN on Monday arrested purchasing official Alexander Yakovlev for pocketing about $1 million from the [...]

In a backlash against recent proposals for sweeping changes to Britain's terror laws , senior judges in the UK have warned lawmakers that they will stand against any move to undermine their independence in an effort to ensure a democratic society. Their uncompromising stance comes after a series of clashes stemming from accusations made by [...]

AP is reporting that President Bush has said that new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be given a US visa so that he can attend UN meetings in New York. Earlier this week, the State Department had indicated it was considering denying Ahmadinejad's visa application due to allegations that Ahmadinejad was involved in the 1979 [...]

The US military is scheduled to complete ongoing renovations to some areas of Guantanamo Bay by Monday, creating improved facilities for detainees who are deemed no longer a threat to the United States, Brig. General Jay Hood revealed in an affidavit filed in federal court earlier this week. The military plans to house the nonthreatening [...]

Two political parties went to court in Kenya on Thursday to try and block a vote on a draft constitution, claiming that President Mwai Kibaki manipulated the text to increase his powers. Both the opposition Kenya African National Union and the Liberal Democratic Party , part of the ruling coalition, joined to ask the High [...]