In a speech to the American Bar Association annual meeting in Chicago this weekend, US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens noted "serious flaws'' in the American capital punishment system, though he stopped short of saying it should be completely done away with. Stevens pointed to recent exonerations, jury-selection processes, and statements from victims' families [...]

Haroon Rashid Aswat , a British man who was arrested by Zambian police last week, was returned to the UK on Sunday to face charges that he made phone calls to the bombers in preparation for the July 7 London bombing attacks. He was subsequently arrested under a US warrant on charges that he conspired [...]

Sixty years after deadly atomic blasts hit the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , thousands rallied across the US over the weekend to call for a ban on nuclear weapons. Protesters gathered in New Mexico, Tennessee, California, and Nevada at sites with historical significance linking them to the bomb or places that are currently [...]

Three days after a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court ruling and struck down a Hawaiian school policy of only admitting native Hawaiians , nearly 15,000 people marched through downtown Honolulu Saturday to protest. The schools were established in 1883 and educate about 5,100 Hawaiian students [...]

Benon Sevan , the former head of the UN Oil-for-Food Program , resigned from his current honorary position at the UN Sunday one day before an independent panel investigating corruption charges and program irregularities was due to present a new report on its findings. In a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Sevan, who has denied [...]

British police Sunday charged three more individuals, including two alleged bombers, in the ongoing investigation into the July 21 attempted terror bombings in London. Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, and Ramzi Mohammed, 23 were charged with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to cause explosions and possession of an explosive substance. Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 32, was [...]

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters Saturday that he would consider invoking administrative detention – traditionally used against Palestinians, allowing them to be held without charge or trial – against all extremists, including Jews, who participate in illegal protests designed to disturb the upcoming Gaza pullout. Earlier this month, the commissioner of Israel's prison [...]

The US ambassador to Iraq met with interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari Saturday, warned that the US would not tolerate a new Iraqi constitution that would oppress women or other religious sects. Zalmay Khalilzad delivered the message one day after Al-Jaafari met with several Shiite clerics who communicated their hope that Islam become the main [...]

AP is reporting that Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigned unexpectedly Sunday to protest next week's Gaza pullout . Netanyahu cited the danger of terror operations that could be launched against Israel from the ceded territory if the pullout occured. Despite the resignation, the Israeli cabinet gave final approval Sunday to the removal of a [...]

All legal proceedings in the West Bank and Gaza came to an abrupt halt Saturday after all Palestinian Authority judges went on strike. According to reports, the judges went on strike after repeated calls for increased courtroom and personal security were not met. Last week, the home of Chief Justice Zuhair al-Surani was attacked , [...]