The UK plan for national identification cards received another setback Sunday when Lord Carlile , the Liberal Democrat peer appointed by the British government as an independent reviewer of its anti-terror laws, said that the ID cards would be of "limited value" against terrorism and would not have prevented the London bombings in July. Carlile, [...]

Several detainees involved in the continuing Guantanamo Bay hunger strikes are close to death, according to lawyers acting for the detainees. Despite force-feedings by the US military, there is concern for two emaciated Yemenis and a hospitalized Saudi prisoner. Reprieve , an international prisoners' rights group, is set to release a report Monday on the [...]

The Saddam Hussein trial resumed briefly Sunday under new Kurdish chief judge Ra'uf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman but was adjourned again after Hussein, defense lawyers, and two co-defendants left the courtroom protesting the earlier removal of Saddam's half brother and co-defendant Barzan al-Tikriti. Abdel-Rahman, who replaced Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin earlier this month, opened the proceedings [...]

Walgreens is being sued by four Illinois pharmacists who claim that they were illegally fired for refusing to sign a pledge promising to dispense the morning-after birth control pill. Walgreens asked the pharmacists to sign the pledge because of an Illinois state rule which requires pharmacies that sell contraceptives to fill prescriptions for emergency birth [...]

Lebanese government officials have called "fruitful" initial consultations with visiting UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel on the establishment of an international tribunal for suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . A UN spokesperson also described the meetings constructive and positive . Lebanon Justice Minister Charles Rizk is [...]

A US court-martial Saturday found Army Specialist James Hayes guilty of mistreating detainees in Afghanistan at the end of a brief trial . The court-martial which convicted Hayes on one count of conspiracy to maltreat and two counts of maltreatment demoted him to the rank of private and sentenced him to four months in detention [...]

In his weekly radio address Saturday President Bush urged the US Senate to vote on his nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court, insisting that senators had a "constitutional responsibility" to do so and implicitly warning against any Democratic Party filibuster. Democratic Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy have planned a [...]

A senior Hamas official speaking in Jerusalem has said that introducing Islamic sharia as "a source of law" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be "the No. 1 thing we will do" when Hamas takes up its seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council after its shock victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections earlier this [...]

Senoir US Senate Democrats John Kerry (MA) , Patrick Leahy (VT) , and Russ Feingold (WI) have introduced a bill to limit expense-paid trips for federal judges underwritten by major corporations and political organizations. The three senators also included in their draft of the Fair and Independent Judiciary Act a provision to let the public [...]

Arizona state legislator David Burnell Smith became the first US lawmaker removed from office for violating a state’s public campaign financing rules when the Arizona Supreme Court declined Thursday to stay an earlier court order directing him to step down. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission set the stage for a five month court battle when [...]