A federal judge ruled Thursday that two Chinese Uighur detainees held by the US at Guantanamo Bay could be detained there indefinitely even though their imprisonment was unlawful. US District Judge James Robertson said that the courts simply had no relief to offer the men, who are no longer deemed enemy combatants by the government [...]

AP is reporting that the US House of Representatives has passed a one-month extension of the Patriot Act , significantly less than the six-month extension approved by the Senate Wednesday night. 4:32 PM ET – House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) objected to the six-month extension, and the one-month holdover good until February [...]

The Texas Third Court of Appeals Thursday denied a request by US Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) to hasten his appeals process by reducing allowable filing periods from 20 to five days. Prosecutors are appealing the dismissal of the conspiracy charge against DeLay, and Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has requested that his trial for [...]

The presiding judge of the 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) , the secret court charged with overseeing government espionage activities, has organized a classified briefing for panel members to allow administration representatives to report on the scope of the recently uncovered National Security Agency (NSA) secret eavesdropping program. According to the New York Times [...]

The Iraqi Special Tribunal Thursday adjourned the Saddam Hussein trial until January 24 after a day of testimony during which Hussein berated the US for denying his claims, made Wednesday , that he had been beaten in custody. During cross-examination, Hussein analogized the US position on his injuries to the US position on Iraq's alleged [...]

The French Senate approved anti-terror legislation in a 202-122 vote Thursday after preliminarily approving the bill last week. The bill, introduced by conservative presidential hopeful and current Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and influenced by the recently enacted British anti-terrorism bill, increases funding for video surveillance of public areas such as airports and train stations, permits [...]

A British appellate court has ruled Thursday that British soldiers in Iraq are forbidden to subject Iraqi prisoners to cruel or degrading treatment while in their custody. The determination that the Human Rights Act – a 1998 statute encating the European Convention on Human Rights into English law – applies to any British troop with [...]

Australian police have arrested a 33-year-old man for using text messages to incite rioting a week after race riots broke out in Sydney involving 5,000 people, mostly white men and youths, attacking Muslim residents on local beaches. Wednesday's arrest marks the first instance someone has been charged with such an offense. The man allegedly forwarded [...]

Nearly 700 same-sex couples in Britain took part in civil partnership ceremonies Wednesday, the first day of eligibility under Britain's Civil Partnership Act , which was enacted in 2004. Registration for civil partnerships began earlier this month, and couples are required to wait 15 days after registration before holding ceremonies. Partners in civil unions are [...]

The US Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the Byrd Amendment in October 2007, following a similar vote in the US House of Representatives last month. Officially known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act , the amendment, which allows private companies to collect duties from foreign imports that the government considers to be unfairly [...]