US President George W. Bush assured Australian Prime Minister John Howard Friday that Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks would be brought to trial, but refused to give a timetable for the trial. Referring to Hicks' legal team's promise to challenge the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) , Bush noted that Hicks is "having [...]

US District Judge John Houston Thursday temporarily stayed enforcement of an ordinance passed by the city of Escondido, California which would punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants . The ordinance requires landlords to provide evidence of their tenants' immigration status to city officials, who would verify the data with federal government records. Under the [...]

US Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson was sentenced to 21 months in military custody Thursday for his participation in the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man in Hamdania last April. Jackson admitted to assisting eight other servicemen in kidnapping Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home, shooting him, then staging his body to appear [...]

US Army Spc. James P. Barker, who pleaded guilty Wednesday for 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, was sentenced Thursday to no more than 90 years in prison. Barker's effective life sentence, which has the possibility of parole, [...]

John Altenburg , appointed in 2003 by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to oversee the military commissions trying terror detainees at Guantanamo Bay , has resigned his post as Appointing Authority and returned to full-time civilian legal practice, law firm Greenberg Traurig announced Thursday. The move comes just weeks after Altenburg submitted a draft manual [...]

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani announced on Al-Iraqiya state television Thursday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Harith al-Dhari , the most prominent leader of Iraq's Sunni minority, and head of the powerful Association of Muslim Scholars . The Shiite-led Interior Ministry said that al-Dhari is wanted for incitement of terrorism and violence. [...]

Democratic Republic of Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba said Thursday that he plans to use legal means to challenge the results from last month's run-off election after officials announced Wednesday that he lost the presidency to Joseph Kabila by 16 percentage points. Bemba's supporters have alleged voting fraud , which has been an issue throughout [...]

UK independent anti-terror law reviewer Lord Carlile warned British lawmakers Thursday against "rushing" to extend the country's 28-day limit on police detentions of terror suspects without charge. London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair suggested an extension of the limit in a speech Saturday. Carlile's warning comes as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is gearing [...]

A Rwandan military court Thursday convicted a Roman Catholic Rwandan priest of genocide for rape and assisting the Hutu massacre of Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, who was sentenced to life in prison, has lived in exile in France since 1995. While French authorities have repeatedly denied requests for extradition, [...]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has submitted to the UN Security Council a proposal on establishing an international tribunal to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri , a spokesman for Annan said Thursday. Annan submitted the proposal despite the rejection of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud of his cabinet's [...]