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 [...]

The forgery trial of Egyptian presidential candidate and prominent al-Ghad party opposition leader Ayman Nour was delayed Wednesday after a witness recanted his testimony in court. Ayman Hassan said security agents threatened to hurt his nieces if he didn't implicate Nour, who has maintained his innocence on charges of forging signatures to get his opposition [...]

A Moroccan court Tuesday sentenced two men, Taoufik Hanouichi and Mohcine Bouarfa, to death for "murder in connection with a terrorist group." The trial included 46 other defendants arrested as part of an effort to dismantle militant Islamic networks following a suicide bombing in Casablanca on May 16, 2003 which killed 45 people. Thirty-one defendants [...]

Under a new, broader definition of terror attacks, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) announced Tuesday there were 3,192 such attacks worldwide in 2004 resulting in 28,433 people killed, wounded or kidnapped. Under the old definition, the center had reported in April that there 651 significant international attacks and 9,000 victims. The new figures include politically [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Scott Gerber of Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law says that the second President of the United States has some good advice on the upcoming Supreme Court nomination process necessitated by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor… The Left's call for President Bush to nominate a moderate replacement for retiring [...]

In an effort to reduce growing criminal legal aid expenses, the UK government laid before Parliament Tuesday a new strategy to require law firms to compete with each other on price for bulk contracts with the Legal Services Commission to represent defendants in magistrates' and crown courts. The reforms are expected to save £7 million [...]

US v. Romo, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, July 5, 2005 . Excerpt: Robert Romo appeals his conviction for threatening the President in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871(a). Although he confessed to a licensed counselor that he made such a threat, he now claims that the counselor's trial testimony was [...]

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the prison therapist of a Montana inmate did not violate the psychologist-patient privilege when he contacted the Secret Service to report a letter the inmate wrote threatening to kill President Bush. Robert Romo sent the letter to the White House and then told his therapist [...]

A Kuwaiti judge has approved an independent medical commission to investigate allegations of torture by 37 detainees being held by Kuwaiti authorities for plotting attacks against US soldiers and killing four policemen in January. The medical board, made up of three medical professors from Kuwait University , was directed to examine the detainees after the [...]

A judge Tuesday pre-approved a $120 million settlement agreement for class action plaintiffs claiming they were molested by priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Kentucky, marking the largest settlement agreement yet for US church abuse victims. The ruling allows $40 million of the diocese assets to be paid to victims right away [...]