The US Department of Justice signed off on a new Georgia law Friday that will require voters to present a valid photo ID when they vote in elections. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue initially approved the bill in January after its passage by the Georgia state legislature , but under the federal Voting Rights Act , [...]

State prison administrators carried out the execution of Willie Brown, Jr. on Friday morning at the Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. During the execution procedure Brown had a brain-wave monitor attached to him to ensure that he was unconscious when he was injected with the lethal doses of medication that would stop his heart. [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Friday ruled that the federal courts were not authorized to grant compensation to the Chagossians , a group of Indian Ocean islanders forced from their homes in 1963 when the US Department of Defense cleared the island of Diego Garcia to develop a US military [...]

The UN human rights chief in Iraq said Friday that officials in that country are holding thousands of detainees in violation of Iraqi law and expressed concern about ongoing human rights violations. According to Gianni Magazzeni, over 29,000 people are currently being detained in the country. Coalition forces are holding about 14,000 detainees for "urgent [...]

A Superior Court judge in Alameda County, California on Friday threw out a lawsuit challenging the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) , the $3 billion stem cell research program that was approved in Proposition 71 , approved by California voters in a 2004 referendum. Judge Bonnie Sabraw ruled that Stem Cell Research and Cures [...]

A Texas state jury on Friday found Merck liable for the death of a 71-year-old man who died from a heart attack within a month of taking Merck's painkiller Vioxx , in the sixth Vioxx case to reach a verdict. The jury ordered Merck to pay $32 million in damages to the family of Leonel [...]

A US Central Intelligence Agency employee has been fired for leaking classified information and having unauthorized discussions with the media, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said Friday. Though Gimigliano declined to elaborate, a law enforcement officer has said that the leak led to last November's report in the Washington Post detailing allegations that the CIA has [...]

A US federal judge Friday entered not guilty pleas for former Assistant US Attorney Richard Convertino and US State Department Regional Secretary Officer Harry Raymond Smith III after they stood mute to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false declarations in connection with a botched 2003 Detroit trial of four men accused of [...]

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has signed into law two new bills that may incite court battles over separation of church and state. On Thursday Perdue authorized government-sanctioned elective classes on the Bible in public schools and signed a bill allowing courthouses to display the Ten Commandments. Education analysts believe Georgia is the first state to [...]

Nepal opposition activists rallied late on Friday in Kathmandu to reject a pledge made earlier in the day by King Gyanendra to immediately restore democracy to the country, under the king's direct rule since February last year. The country's political parties, which Gyanendra had invited to propose candidates for prime minister, turned down the overture [...]