Delegates to the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors meeting concluding in Vienna Saturday adopted a resolution that for the first time declares Iran in "non-compliance" with safeguards set under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) , a move that allows the IAEA to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for the administration of [...]

An Iraqi lawyer said Saturday that an Iraqi judge has issued warrants for the arrest of 2 British soldiers freed in a UK raid on a Basra jail Monday. The soldiers, reported to be undercover SAS members, are accused of killing an Iraqi policeman and wounding another, carrying unlicensed weapons and holding false identification. Judge [...]

The US boycotted a 3-day UN conference that ended Friday designed to encourage the 11 nuclear countries who have not signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to do so. Thirty-three of the 44 signatories possessing nuclear research and power capabilities have ratified the treaty, but support of the holdouts is necessary for the treaty [...]

Human Rights Watch claimed in a report issued Friday that members of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division systematically tortured Iraqi prisoners in 2003 and 2004 at a military base near Fallujah. A captain and two sergeantsts, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in the report that detainees were deprived of sleep, food and [...]

Defense psychologists testified in court-martial proceedings Friday that learning disabilities and her "compliant personality" made Pfc. Lynndie England so blindly obedient to her boyfriend and now-incarcerated superior officer Charles Graner that she thought nothing of posing in Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse photos. Clinical psychologist Xavier Amador told the 5-officer jury that England had "no contemplative [...]

US v. Hayat, et al., United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, new charges filed on September 22, 2005 . Read the full text of the superseding indictment here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Bush administration may again decide to temporarily suspend the Jones Act in order to facilitate petroleum shipments between US ports if Hurricane Rita hinders supplies from reaching refineries, according to a government source Friday. The law says that only vessels built and owned by citizens of the United States and flagged in the United [...]

AP is reporting that Lester Crawford , commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration , has resigned. 4:08 PM ET – Crawford's resignation comes just two months after his Senate confirmation as FDA chief . During the confirmation process, Crawford was criticized for dragging his feet while serving as the FDA's acting commissioner on making [...]

The European Union Friday presented a motion to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that would condemn Iran's nuclear program as a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , but would not refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. Earlier this week, Germany, France and Great Britain dropped their demand [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, Alameda County California supervisors have approved a plan that would mandate the shutdown of windmills during the winter migratory bird season. The Altamont Pass has over 5,000 windmills and is located along the Pacific Flyway , the main route for the winter migration of birds. According to studies by the [...]