A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought in 2004 by two US Army National Guard soldiers that claimed the Army fraudulently induced them to enlist by failing to inform them that they could be forced to remain on active duty indefinitely. Judge Royce Lamberth of the US DC District Court ruled one case moot [...]

US Senate Democrats Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) Thursday urged US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint a special counsel to lead the investigation of Jack Abramoff and his allegedly corrupt connections with more than 20 Republican congressmen, staffers, and White House aides. Though Schumer and Salazar said that the US Department of [...]

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin signed a mine safety bill Thursday S. 247 requiring mines to provide wireless emergency communicators, tracking devices and extra air supplies to their miners. The West Virginia Legislature on Tuesday unanimously approved the bill , which also sets up a new accident rapid-response system and establishes fines for mines that [...]

Khalil Dulaimi, chief defense lawyer for Saddam Hussein said Thursday following up on earlier defense statements that the ousted Iraqi leader intends "very soon" to sue US President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and British PM Tony Blair in the new International Criminal Court for abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib and authorizing [...]

An effort to increase the detention period for terror suspects in the UK from 28 days to 60 days was defeated Wednesday in the House of Lords by a vote of 210-108. Under current law , terror suspects can be held without charge for 14 days, and a new anti-terror proposal would increase the detention [...]

US Attorney McGregor Scott of the Eastern District of California has announced the indictments of three people for ecoterrorism on federal charges of conspiracy to use fire or explosives to damage property. The three defendants, who could be sentenced from five to twenty years if convicted, allegedly targeted a dam and fish hatchery and the [...]

The European Parliament , which has launched an investigation into allegations that the CIA illegally operated secret jails in Romania and Poland and covertly flew detainees through Italy, Germany and Poland, said on Thursday that it may request US Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify before the committee. MEP Sarah [...]

Parliamentarians of the Council of Europe , often referred to as Europe's human rights watchdog body, have approved a resolution which condemns crimes committed by communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War . The Council's Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday labeled the crimes as "massive violations of human rights" and agreed that [...]

The Seoul High Court on Thursday ordered Dow Chemical and Monsanto to pay $65.2 million in damages for the negligent manufacture of defoliants used during the Vietnam War, including Agent Orange . The money is to go to over 20,000 Korean veterans who were exposed to the chemicals. Dow and Monsanto settled a 1984 US [...]

In a press conference Thursday, US President George Bush continued his administration's defense of the controversial domestic surveillance program , saying the program is legal and indicating that he may resist proposals by Congress to change it. Responding to a question on the surveillance program, Bush said: There's no doubt in my mind it is [...]