France's largest Muslim organization, the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF) , has argued at a national conference of French Muslims that the state should reconsider its ban on Islamic headscarves in schools and recognize Islamic holy days. The French Education Ministry ordered the ban on "conspicuous religious signs" in state schools last March, in [...]

Australian attorney general Philip Ruddock has asked the US to expedite proceedings against Australian detainee David Hicks , the only Australian still held at Guantanamo Bay. Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and suspected of working with Al-Qaeda. Ruddock and Australia's ambassador to the US say they want to avoid another case like that [...]

According to military and Bush administration officials, the US Department of Defense is considering substantial changes to the tribunal process at Guantanamo Bay for foreign terror suspects. The changes, designed in response to widespread criticism from foreign governments, human rights groups, and the federal courts, include strengthening the rights of defendants, establishing more independant judges [...]

Citing lack of jursidiction, the Florida Supreme Court has rejected what is likely to be the last appeal from Terri Schiavo's parents in their efforts to have their daughter's feeding tube re-inserted. The ruling effectively upholds Judge George Greer's order from earlier this afternoon denying relief . Read the Florida Supreme Court order , and [...]

Court officials in Egypt have announced that opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour will stand trial on charges of forgery in June. Prosecutors allege that Nour and six members of his Al Ghad Party forged nearly 1,500 signatures to meet the number required to register his political party. In a suprising move ealier this month, Egyptian [...]

The US Navy announced Friday that a sailor who refused to report for duty in the Persian Gulf because of his opposition to the war in Iraq will face a special court-martial. Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes faces criminal charges of absence without leave and missing the movement of a ship. Paredes was scheduled [...]

Schiavo v. Schiavo, Circuit Court for Pinellas County, Judge George Greer, March 26, 2005 . Read the full text of the order . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Florida Pinellas County circuit judge George Greer has denied the latest and perhaps last motion by the parents of Terri Schiavo to have their daughter's feeding tube re-inserted. Their motion late Friday had been supported by an affidavit by one their lawyers claiming that Schiavo had tried to talk and tell her that she wanted [...]

The Miami Herald reported Saturday that state agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were actually en route to Terri Schiavo's hospice Thursday to take custody of her and transfer her to a facility where her feeding tube might be reconnected, but turned back after local Pinellas County police insisted that they would enforce [...]

Hundreds of thousands of protestors gathered Saturday in a massive rally and march through the streets of Taiwan's capital Taipei to voice their opposition to China's anti-secession law authorizing the potential use of force against Taiwan in order to achieve Chinese re-unification. Taiwan president President Chen Shui-bian and many members of his Democratic Progressive Party [...]