Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow took the stand for the prosecution against his former bosses Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling Tuesday. Fastow testified that both Lay and Skilling were aware of the creation of two partnerships in 1999 designed to keep the failing firm's liabilities off the books. Fastow [...]

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted Tuesday that US treatment of detainees is consistent with the Geneva Conventions , but questioned the relevance of some Geneva provisions in the context of "this new kind of war, against this new kind of enemy." In an interview with BBC News during an official visit to London , [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg ruled Tuesday that a British woman could not have frozen embryos conceived with a former partner implanted without his consent. Natallie Evans and Howard Johnston entered an IVF program in 2001 and Johnson agreed to the implantation of the embryos, but later withdrew his consent after [...]

San Francisco Superior Court Judge James L. Warren ruled Monday that the University of California system broke a contract with students when it raised fees during their three-year professional programs. Under the ruling the system should refund more than $33.8 million, primarily to students who enrolled in the professional schools in 2002 or earlier. University [...]

US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) , chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee , has said that the committee may recall US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to testify about the administration's domestic surveillance program . Gonzales testified before the committee last month and later followed up that testimony with a letter , which Specter said suggests [...]

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Tuesday that Israel would consider resorting to targeted killings of Hamas leaders if the group resumes attacks in Israel. Hamas , regarded by much of the international community to be a terrorist group, took control of the Palestinian Legislative Council this week after a surprise victory in January's elections. [...]

The French Conseil d'Etat , the country's highest administrative tribunal, held Monday that Sikhs have to remove their turbans to be photographed for driver's licenses as a matter of public security. The ruling overturned an earlier decision by the same tribunal made on procedural grounds in December, when the Council held that a directive by [...]

Leading Tuesday's international brief, Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been found not guilty of rape by a High Court judge who ridiculed the disarray of the prosecutor's office in presenting jumbled and often mislabeled evidence and even implied that the woman accusing Besigye was dishonest, saying that while one might forget the day of [...]

US government lawyers on Monday asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two rights groups against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First filed the suit on behalf of nine former detainees , alleging that Rumsfeld and other [...]

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke is expected to propose legislation that would allow the use of wiretap evidence in British courtrooms, specifically in cases of organized crime and terrorism, according to British press reports Tuesday. The practice is already common in the US, Australia, and other European countries to secure convictions. There has been a [...]