The UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) said Sunday that the results from the country's September legislative election are being delayed because of investigations into fraud complaints . The final counts were originally supposed to be announced on October 19, but the slow pace of vote counting pushed the announcement date back to the beginning [...]

Federal appellate judges Samuel Alito and Michael Luttig are reportedly at the top of President Bush's list of possible US Supreme Court nominees to replace the withdrawn Harriet Miers as the President reconsiders the nomination at Camp David this weekend. Republicans have said Bush's short list is similar to the one he reviewed before he [...]

Supplemental Report on Bayoil Diversions of Iraqi Oil and Related Oversight Failures, US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Relations Committee Subcommittee on Investigations, October 31, 2005 ]. Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

American Civil Liberties Union v. Alaska, October 28, 2005 . Excerpt: The governmental interests of cost control, administrative efficiency, and promotion of marriage are legitimate, but the absolute denial of benefits to public employees with same-sex domestic partners is not substantially related to these governmental interests… We therefore conclude, applying minimum scrutiny, that the challenged [...]

At least five people were shot by police Saturday as violence again erupted in Kenya's Western Province over the country's highly controversial draft constitution . Security forces fired upon a crowd in the city of Kisumu while dispersing a riot during a pro-constitution rally held by four cabinet ministers. Police said mobs set fire to [...]

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday formed a special judicial committee to conduct a state investigation into Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . The committee will be led by Syria's prosecutor-general, and will also include the military prosecutor and a judge yet to be named by the justice [...]

Australian state and territorial leaders were given a new draft of a proposed federal anti-terrorism bill Friday and are meeting this weekend to discuss it. The previous draft drew heavy criticism from ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope last week for its provisions concerning control orders and preventative detentions; Stanhope cautiously supported the new draft Saturday, [...]

The New Orleans Police Department fired 45 police officers and 6 other employees Friday after investigators concluded they had improperly abandoned their duties during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina without giving 14 days notice as required by regulations. A total of of 240 officers out of the 1450-member force are under investigation after being listed [...]

Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy pleaded not guilty Friday to corruption charges after a federal grand jury indicted him Wednesday. Scrushy claims that though he has no evidence to provide the court, federal prosecutors are offering him immunity if he agrees to testify against his co-defendant, former Alabama governor Don Siegelman , who has also [...]

Democrats on the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations claimed in a minority staff report on the UN Oil-for-Food scandal released Friday that the US Treasury Department failed to respond to UN requests for help in investigating business improprieties and missed an opportunity to stop at least one US corporation from [...]