AP is reporting that the US Senate has overwhelmingly approved legislation that sets restrictions on the detention, interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects. The Senate approved the measure by a 90-9 vote margin despite the threat of a White House veto . The legislation, which was approved as part of a military spending bill and [...]

Russia cautioned Switzerland on Wednesday that the countries' bilateral ties would be harmed by the Swiss decision to extradite former Russian atomic energy minister Yevgeny Adamov to the US. Switzerland's Ministry of Justice ruled earlier this week that Adamov must faces charges in the US prior to being returned to Russia. Russia had sought to [...]

The Texas Criminal Court of Appeals Wednesday reversed for a third time the death sentence of John Paul Penry , a convicted killer whose death sentence was twice reversed by the US Supreme Court and sparked debate over whether mentally handicapped criminals should be put to death. Penry was convicted of killing a woman in [...]

A UN human rights official warned Wednesday that the UN High Commission for Refugees was facing increasingly difficult conditions that prevented it from protecting millions of threatened refugees , but that protection of those people remained an obligation. UNHCR Director of International Protection Erika Feller addressed representatives from the 68 countries on the agency's executive [...]

AP is reporting that Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin has pleaded guilty to giving classified information regarding potential attacks on US forces in Iraq to an Israeli embassy official and members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) , a pro-Israel lobbying group. Read the indictment against Franklin and the two AIPAC members, Steven Rosen [...]

Syria has removed 81 judges and improved wages, taxes and insurance for the judicial branch as part of a series of reforms, government newspaper Ath-Thawra reported Wednesday. According to the paper, the reforms were ordered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to improve judges' standard of living and accelerate legal reforms in the country. France granted [...]

In Wednesday's environmental law brief, the Philippine provincial government of Marinduque , a small island about 100 miles south of Manila, filed suit Tuesday against Placer Dome Inc. seeking $100 million for environmental rehabilitation and compensation to local residents. The suit against the Canadian mining company was filed in Nevada, where the company has some [...]

Russian investigators have raided the offices of various companies affiliated with the former oil giant Yukos in connection with a $7 billion money-laundering investigation, prosecutors said Wednesday. Prosecutors have previously said they were pursuing such charges against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky , who has been sentenced to eight years in prison on separate tax [...]

A group of 13 former and current employees filed a $500 million lawsuit Wednesday against the US Department of Commerce alleging that the agency discriminated in its hiring and promoting of employees. The suit, filed by 11 black and two white workers claiming to represent all black employees at the agency in the past 10 [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments on whether the federal government can halt doctors from assisting patients in taking their own lives under an Oregon statute allowing the practice. The justices appeared divided over the issue in Gonzales v. Oregon of how much authority the federal government can exercise over doctors and [...]