L. Patrick Gray , a Nixon loyalist and acting FBI director during the Watergate investigation who ended up resigning after he admitted destroying relevant documents, died Wednesday in Atlantic Beach, Florida, at 88. Gray said in a June television interview that he felt betrayed when former FBI deputy director W. Mark Felt was confirmed as [...]

Sudan's National Assembly on Wednesday unanimously approved a new constitution that moves the country away from pure Islamic rule. It provides that Islamic law will not be applied in largely Christian areas, generally in the south of the country, and removes a requirement that president be a Muslim. The constitution comes as a result of [...]

A federal court in Boston will hear arguments Friday in the case of twelve members of the armed forces who are challenging the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that requires them to keep their sexual orientation a secret or face discharge. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network plans to argue that the policy enacted in [...]

Jordanian lawyer Ziad Khasawneh , the head of the Committee for Defending Saddam Hussein, announced Wednesday that he is quitting the group, turning full control of the former Iraqi president's defense over to a team led by maverick former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark , who served in the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. Clark [...]

The trial of 24 people accused by Spanish authorities of aiding the 9/11 attack on the United States concluded Tuesday after 10 weeks of testimony and evidence. The defendants include Immad Yarkas , the alleged head of an al-Qaeda cell in Spain. Prosecutors are seeking over 74,000 years in prison for the top defendants. Yarkas [...]

The UN Security Council agreed Tuesday to turn over more documents to the Independent Inquiry Committee investigating the oil-for-food scandal . The Council will turn over notes from a meeting about the program taken by a junior UN staffer . Secretary-General Kofi Annan originally announced the release last week, but Council members wanted approval from [...]

Eleven militants in Indonesian custody have been declared terror suspects and police believe two of them may be involved in the September 2004 bombing of Australia's embassy in Jakarta which killed 11 people. The remaining nine will be tried for violations of Law No. 15 of 2003 , a new anti-terrorism statute enacted after the [...]

President Bush on Wednesday said "litmus tests" on sensitive issues will not be a part of his search for a nominee to the Supreme Court, while still giving no names or timetable other than reinforcing his plan to have the vacancy filled by the Court's new term in October. Bush again defended from criticism US [...]

The European Parliament voted 648-14 on Wednesday to toss a draft law that would have protected inventions combining software and machinery. Opponents of the proposed law feared that would have stifled small businesses and protected large ones by creating patent lawyer and litigation costs. European governments wanted the law passed to encourage investment in an [...]

A new US Department of Defense plan for defending the US from terrorist attacks, quietly approved last month , has raised questions about the level of involvement by the US military on its own soil. The plan, titled Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support , does not provide or ask for new legal authority [...]