The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that foreign cruise ships in US waters and ports are subject to federal civil rights law, overturning a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision . The ruling extends the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 to cover foreign vessels. Read the Court's opinion in Spector v. Norweigan Cruise Lines [...]

In a 6-3 decision the US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Gonzales v. Raich that Congress has the power to criminalize the growth and use of marijuana for personal medical reasons with a doctor's recommendation. The case was an appeal by the Bush administration from a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision ruling that the [...]

An official with the parliamentary committee overseeing the drafting of Iraq's permanent constitution said Sunday that up to 35 Sunni Arabs will be listed by their leaders as willing to help draft the new constitution. The 55-member committee, which itself includes only 2 Sunnis is hoping, with US support , to use the experts to [...]

The New York Times reported Monday that the first court case brought against Saddam Hussein in late summer 2005 before the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) will relate to the 1982 killings of close to 160 men from the mostly Shiite village of Dujail after an attempt on Saddam's life there. In an effort to speed [...]

Downing Street confirmed Monday that the UK was postponing indefinitely a referendum on the troubled EU constitution after the charter's rejection by both France and the Netherlands . The vote had been expected for spring 2006. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted, however, that the postponement was not a signal that the [...]

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill Sunday requiring parental consent to abortions for girls under the age of 18 and tighter restrictions on abortions for women who are more than 26 weeks pregnant. Before a crowd of 1,000 supporters in a high school gym at a Fort Worth evangelical Christian school , Perry also [...]

Thomas, et al. v. Gonzales, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, June 3, 2005 . Excerpt: We hold that family membership may constitute membership in a "particular social group," and thus confer refugee status on a family member who has been persecuted or who has a well-founded fear of future persecution on [...]

US Senator Joseph Biden said Sunday on ABC-TV's This Week that the US should begin efforts to close down the military prison camp in Guantanamo Bay. Biden, head Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , also suggested that an independent commission should review the prison and make recommendations, saying prisoners the US does not [...]

Two women have been appointed for the first time to Kuwait's municipal council, according to an official source on Sunday. Kuwait news agency Kuna reports that one of the women is a member of the ruling family – Shaikha Fatima al-Sabah, an architect and an assistant undersecretary at the office of Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Jaber [...]

In a landmark ruling, the US Ninth Circuit Cout of Appeals held Friday that a family unit can be "a protected social group" under federal asylum law. The court supported the refugee claim of a South African family persecuted for a relative's racist and abusive treatment against recommendations by the US Justice Department . Michele [...]