The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the Israeli government should look into whether the Palestinian Authority , US or UN is willing to preserve 20 synagogues that remain standing in the Gaza strip following last month's Israeli withdrawal from the region. The court's Tuesday ruling follows an earlier temporary injunction prohibiting the destruction of [...]

An international media watchdog organization has said that internet company Yahoo divulged information to China that led to the conviction of a journalist for leaking state secrets. Reporters Without Borders Tuesday accused the Hong Kong arm of Yahoo with providing "China’s state security authorities with details that helped to identify and convict" journalist Shi Tao. [...]

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the European Commission in the European Court of First Instance over the "issue of broad licences for the source code of communications protocols." The lawsuit comes as part of the fallout from a 2004 European Commission decision , where Microsoft was fined $613 million and [...]

BBC News is reporting that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accepted responsibility for mismanagement of the now defunct UN Oil-for-Food program . The Independent Inquiry Committee investigating the program delivered its final report to the UN Security Council Wednesday morning and will soon make the full report available to the public. According to an [...]

An Iraqi official has confirmed that the draft Iraqi constitution will be sent to printers Thursday so that almost 5 million copies of the draft can be printed and distributed to citizens in advance of an October 15 referendum. Baha al-Araji, deputy head of Iraq's Constitution Committee , said that the version to be printed [...]

A day after announcing his decision to nominate John Roberts to succeed Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, President Bush Tuesday urged Senators to concentrate on confirming Roberts, and not speculate on who he will now choose to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a decision he says will come in "due time". In remarks before a [...]

The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal has affirmed a lower court's decision to uphold the suspension of a Florida woman's drivers license after she refused to remove a religious veil for her license photo. The ACLU filed the original complaint in 2002 on behalf of Sultaana Freeman, an American Muslim who converted from Christianity [...]

Iraqi-born US resident Numan Adnan Al-Kaby was released from a US prison in Baghdad Tuesday, after attorneys from the ACLU filed a lawsuit calling for his release last week. The US government continued to detain Al-Kaby despite a July US military tribunal determination that he was not involved in the mortar attack that led to [...]

Egyptians voted in the country's first multi-candidate presidential election Wednesday amid demonstrations and allegations of fraud. Longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , who is expected to win easily, has touted the election as signaling a move towards democracy in the country where he previously retained his position by referendum vote. Thus far, citizens have alleged [...]

Suspected looters and others accused of committing crimes in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are now being held at the city's Greyhound bus station, which has been turned into a makeshift jail. Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti told reporters late last week that a temporary detention facilty was being set up after [...]