A federal judge on Friday granted a request by John W. Hinckley, Jr. , who shot President Ronald Reagan and 3 others in 1981 , for seven overnight visits with his parents in their home in Williamsburg, Virginia, 150 miles from Washington. Hinckley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, has [...]

President George W. Bush on Friday signed a $453.3 billion defense spending bill which contains provisions banning the cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in US custody, but also eliminates the ability of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to challenge their detention in federal court. In a signing statement the President reserved the right to construe the [...]

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has filed a petition seeking permission to appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit a December 15 ruling that declared the state's 1982 ban on corporate farming unconstitutional. The case was brought by ranchers who argued the ban, Initiative 300 (I-300) , hindered their ability to [...]

Recent US-led inspections of Iraqi-run prisons in Baghdad and Tal Afar have revealed signs of prisoner abuse and overcrowding, a US military official said Friday. Maj. Gen. William Webster, who commands security forces in Baghdad, confirmed there is a problem of overcrowding, but denied the existence of any evidence of recent abuse in the facilities: [...]

Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Friday spoke out against pending constitutional changes that will lead, in his opinion, to an "unbalanced and ineffective government", and suggested a national referendum to decide the matter. The changes to the country's constitution , scheduled to take effect on January 1, will strip Yushchenko's power to nominate a prime [...]

The British Parliament announced Friday that the Intelligence and Security Committee will launch an official investigation into allegations that 28 Pakistani terror suspects held in Greece following the July 7 London bombings were abused by 15 Greek agents and one British MI6 officer. The announcement comes on the heels of the Greek Ministry of Justice [...]

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has made an offer to settle nearly 200 pending clergy sex abuse lawsuits, lawyers representing plaintiffs in the litigation said Friday. The settlement offer would require that all pending lawsuits be divided into three tiers. Tier one and two plaintiffs would be paid from the settlement fund by an [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a suit alleging religious discrimination against General Motors (GM) . Writing for the court, Judge Ann Claire Williams supported the decision to dismiss the lawsuit because the corporation's Affinity Group diversity program treated all religions equally by prohibiting the promotion [...]

Chile's Santiago Court of Appeals voted 21-3 Friday to strip Augusto Pinochet of political immunity in respect of a fraud charge against the 90-year-old former dictator, who was fingerprinted and photographed by Chilean police on Wednesday in connection with a human rights proceeding for which his immunity had likewise been lifted. The fraud charge stems [...]

Defying a gag order by the UK Foreign Office , former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig S. Murray has posted two documents to his weblog suggesting that despite government denials, the British government knowingly received intelligence information obtained by torture. The first document is a collection of telegrams sent from Murray between 2002 and 2004 [...]