Australian Prime Minister John Howard rejected allegations Monday that Muslims were being targeted by new proposed anti-terrorism laws , saying that the laws were necessary to "protect the Australian community at a time of unprecedented and different threat." Zachariah Matthews, a moderate Islamic leader and head of Mission Islam , has said the proposed law [...]

A Pennsylvania federal court Monday was set to consider whether school districts may teach a concept known as "intelligent design" prior to teaching biology lessons on evolution. Eight families in Dover, Pennsylvania, claim that teaching the theory in schools is a violation of the separation of church and state . The "intelligent design" concept, developed [...]

The US Senate Monday afternoon will take up the confirmation of Chief Justice nominee Judge John Roberts , with two-thirds of the 100 senators having already announced their support. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to recommend Roberts for nomination last week by a margin of 13-5, and Roberts is expected to reach the necessary majority [...]

Japan's Fukuoka High Court held Monday that a survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing living abroad is entitled to the same medical benefits and funeral costs as survivors living in Japan, without returning to Japan to file claims. Monday's ruling comes after a 2002 court ruling that attempted to force the government to abandon [...]

Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks , arrested in Afghanistan following the September 11th attacks and facing imminent trial by military commission, is seeking dual citizenship in the UK with the hope that the British government will secure his release from Guantanamo Bay. Unlike Hicks' native Australia, Britain has negotiated the release of all its [...]

Mohamed ElBaradei received unanimous approval Monday to continue as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for his third four-year term, after the US ended its opposition to his tenure. ElBaradei's reappointment had been postponed earlier this year in the face of US criticism over ElBaradei's handling of the agency's negotiations with Iran and [...]

In a goodwill gesture that was requested by the Iraqi government for Muslim holy month Ramadan , the US military Monday freed 500 detainees from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and the military has said that an additional 500 detainees will be freed later this week. The released detainees are those deemed to not have committed [...]

AP is reporting that a Spanish court has convicted a suspected al Qaeda cell leader of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the September 11 attacks in the US. 8:11 AM ET – Immad Yarkas, the accused leader of al Qaeda's presence in Spain , received a 27 year jail sentence. Two other al [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Marsha N. Cohen, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law, says governments have a responsibility to protect individuals' freedom by requiring health care businesses to fully meet health care needs, even over the objection of individual pharmacists… In the battle about pharmacists who demand to “follow their [...]

Reports of violent crime in the US in 2004 were at their lowest level since the US Department of Justice began compiling statistics 32 years ago, according to a report released Sunday. The Bureau of Justice Statistics study mirrors an FBI report earlier this year which suggested that murder and violent crime rates were down. [...]