The Chinese Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that it will ban the sale of human organs in an effort to stem a rising black market trade for organs of executed prisoners. The Ministry announced stricter regulations taking effect July 1 that will require written consent from organ donors and will limit the number of hospitals [...]

US House International Relations Committee chairman Rep. Henry Hyde indicated Monday that he would support a revised version of the UN Reform Act in an attempt to gain Senate support for the legislation. Hyde said he would work with committee member Rep. Tom Lantos on a bill that would tie US funding for the UN [...]

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) on Monday asked the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals to declassify a district judge's ruling on possible warrantless wiretaps used by the government in a high-profile terrorism case. Earlier this month, District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy issued a secret ruling in which he rejected a defense motion [...]

Nikolai Lozovik, Secretary for the Belarus Central Election Commission , announced Tuesday that the third-term inauguration of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be delayed. Lukashenko's landslide reelection earlier this month triggered claims of widespread fraud and prompted massive street protests along with scathing criticism from the European Union and the United States . Lozovik gave [...]

Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, Jr. Monday announced an investigation into the American Red Cross over accusations that some of its volunteers stole money from Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Foti reportedly opened the investigation after Red Cross officials told Congress that it was reviewing reports of theft. Foti has asked for information from the organization [...]

Mexican President Vicente Fox has lauded Monday's approval by the US Senate Judiciary Committee of an immigration bill that would provide temporary work visas to undocumented workers in the US and that rejected a House proposal to make the "unlawful presence" of undocumented aliens a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Fox credited huge marches by [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Pascale Duparc Portier of the National University of Ireland (Galway) Faculty of Law says that the mass protests in France against the new First Employment Contract (CPE) legislation may be reminiscent of the 1968 Paris student uprising, but this time French youth and their supporters are fighting not for more rights, but [...]

Jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial were left in a quandary Monday after hearing conflicting testimony from Moussaoui and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed , the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks . Taking the stand in his own defense, Moussaoui said he was part of the Sept. 11 plot and planned to fly a [...]

The BBC is reporting a statement by the Nigerian government that wanted war crimes suspect Charles Taylor , the former Liberian president indicted by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) who it said it would turn over to Liberian authorities , is missing from the villa in the south of country where he [...]

Afghanistan's Justice Minister said Tuesday that authorities have released Abdul Rahman , the Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity. Sarwar Danish did not provide any legal details, but prosecutors had indicated Monday that Rahman was undergoing a mental examination that could have contributed to the decision to free [...]