A Texas court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) for his indictment on charges of money laundering and criminal conspiracy . The warrant, described by DeLay’s attorney Dick Guerin as a "matter of routine," orders DeLay to appear for booking at the Fort Bend County jail, where [...]

New York Times reporter Judith Miller and US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg on Wednesday offered differing takes on the need for federal legislation to protect confidentiality of journalists' sources during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing . Miller, who was jailed for 85 days after refusing to reveal a source for a grand jury investigating the leak [...]

Leading Wednesday's environmental law news, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the US Bureau of Reclamation must come up with a new plan to use water from the Klamath River. The river, which runs from northern California to the Oregon coast, has been source of controversy between farmers who [...]

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights said Wednesday that declassified notes, taken by a lawyer during interviews with inmate clients participating in the ongoing hunger strike , describe "brutal treatment" of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military camp in Cuba. The notes, written by Julia Tarver, detail allegations of force-feeding without anesthesia or sedatives [...]

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali , a Virginia man charged with joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush, testified Wednesday that he had been beaten and tortured after being arrested in Saudi Arabia. The testimony was offered during a pre-trial hearing to determine whether a confession he made in 2003 was coerced. Abu Ali, [...]

The Supreme Court of Chile on Wednesday stripped former president Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution for charges of tax fraud connected to $27 million he holds in offshore accounts. The ruling comes a day after Judge Sergio Munoz petitioned the Santiago Court of Appeals to strip Pinochet's immunity for charges of embezzlement also related [...]

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wednesday arrested and charged a Rwandan man living in Toronto with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda . Desire Munyaneza, 39, faces seven charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act [...]

Many Iraqis watched intently Wednesday as the trial of Saddam Hussein opened, but the proceeding drew mixed reviews in Iraq and abroad. Shiite and Kurdish Iraqis welcomed the start of the trial, with many watching on television as the deposed dictator pleaded not guilty to charges Wednesday. Government, Shiite and Kurdish media praised the opening [...]

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly infringing copyrights as part of Google's Print Library Project . The complaint seeks a declaration that the project violates copyright protections and an injunction against continuing the project, which entails scanning book collections from several universities to [...]

The administration of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt will continue its legal defense of a state law prohibiting inmates from obtaining abortions unless a woman's life or health is endangered, despite the US Supreme Court's recent decision allowing the transport of a current inmate to a St. Louis abortion clinic. The state's policy eliminating procedures facilitating [...]