A Chinese intermediate appellate court has overturned and remanded back to the trial court the case of Chen Guangcheng , a blind Chinese human rights legal activist who was sentenced in August to four years and three months in prison for damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic." Chen's lawyers argued that the [...]

The government of Vietnam will repeal or abolish administrative Decree 31/CP , which authorizes restrictions on citizens who commit security violations not rising to the level of criminality, in advance of US President George W. Bush's scheduled November trip to the country, according to a US official speaking to AFP. AFP's State Department source said [...]

A federal appeals court on Tuesday stayed an August district court ruling finding tobacco companies liable for civil racketeering charges , thus delaying enforcement of the accompanying remedial order that required the tobacco companies to publish "corrective statements" about the health impacts of their products and pay DOJ case costs . The temporary stay will [...]

US District Judge James Munley granted a temporary restraining order late Tuesday prohibiting the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania from enforcing the city's Illegal Immigration Relief Act and Landlord Tenant Ordinance . The local laws, designed to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to reside or work in the town, were set to take effect [...]

US officials plan to request that convicted sex offender Malcolm Watson serve his three-year probation in New York instead of Canada. According to Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark , the request is motivated by complaints from Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant . Although Watson was sentenced by a New York court last week [...]

An attorney for US Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) argued before the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday that the leaking of an illegally-obtained phone call to the news media should be protected by the First Amendment. In March, a three-judge panel of the court ruled against McDermott for releasing the tape of a phone [...]

Canada faces a lawsuit from conservationist group Friends of the Earth for failing to meet its emissions goals under the Kyoto Protocol , which government officials have deemed to be untenable. The group presented a legal opinion to Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose on Tuesday stating that according to a recent government report , Canadian [...]

The nephew of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was sentenced to a year in prison by a military tribunal Tuesday for his comments implicating the military in the assassination of his uncle over 25 years ago . Talat Al-Sadat, a politician from the small Al-Ahrar opposition party, has protested the trial , as the military [...]

The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor accused of infecting over 400 Libyan patients, primarily children , with the HIV virus was adjourned Tuesday after resuming for only one day since a five week postponement caused by the illness of leading defense lawyer Othmane Bizanti. Bizanti returned to court Tuesday and once [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Philip Morris USA v. Williams , 05-1256, a case challenging the punitive damages awarded in a wrongful death action against Philip Morris USA brought by the relatives of a longtime smoker. Earlier this year, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld a jury award of $80 million in [...]