Activists around the country marked the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade with demonstrations on Sunday. In Minnesota, San Francisco, Idaho and Michigan, hundreds of anti-abortion and abortion rights demonstrators gathered in front of state capitols. Activists in Michigan marked the anniversary by debuting Michigan Chooses Life, an initiative to change the state constitution to [...]

The trial of former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic resumed Monday at The Hague, as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ended its extended winter break. The break had been prolonged due to health concerns raised yet again by Milosevic. The court has yet to rule on a request by Milosevic to suspend the [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist David Kairys of Temple University School of Law says that senators weighing the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court should be wary of endorsing his commitment to legal technicalities over core constitutional values… Judge Samuel Alito is smart, fair, collegial, and independent. He’s qualified, and he calls 'em [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Zipursky of Fordham University School of Law says that the ongoing Vioxx litigation is exposing serious shortcomings in America's products liability system… In August, a jury in Texas arrived at a huge verdict of $253 million against Merck Pharmaceutical Company, reportedly aiming to “send a message” to Merck that it is [...]

The UK High Court Monday rejected a review of guidelines that do not require parental consent for minors to receive contraception or abortion advice. Sue Axon of Manchester, a mother of five, had brought a lawsuit hoping to change the law to prevent girls under 16 from getting confidential advice without parental notification. The UK [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, the 2006 African Union summit opened Monday in Khartoum, Sudan, with a sharp controversy over the potential chairmanship of the organization by a regime accused of directly contributing to over 300,000 deaths and nearly two million Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur over the past several years. Traditionally the chairmanship of the [...]

The case against Orhan Pamuk , Turkey's most prominent writer, was dropped by an Istanbul court Sunday following a statement from the Turkish Justice Ministry. Pamuk, whose work often examines the clashes between society and the role of Islam, was on trial for "public denigration of the Turkish identity" after he made allegedly unfavorable remarks [...]

Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark , currently a member of the defense team representing deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein , told Reuters Sunday that Hussein's trial should be suspended. Referring to the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly, the Iraqi Special Tribunal ), Clark stated that "it's unthinkable they would press forward" after chief judge [...]

Delegates from human rights groups sent to attend the African Union summit now underway in Khartoum were detained Sunday by Sudanese authorities. Representatives of Amnesty International , Anti-Slavery International and the International Bar Association were among those taken into custody, without explanation, by Sudanese security forces. The delegates are at the summit to discuss cooperation [...]

Iraq's Justice Ministry said Sunday that it anticipates US authorities will release six detained Iraqi women this week despite US denials . An anonymous Justice Ministry official said a review board made up of six Iraqi officials and three US officers met on January 17 and agreed to release the prisoners. The official suggested that [...]