Peter Henning, Wayne State University Law School: "With the opening statements in the trials of Bernie Ebbers and Richard Scrushy out of the way — on the same day no less — the question arises whether either one will testify in his defense.  Reports on the opening arguments gave no indication one way or the [...]

In an effort to weed out insurgents and increase voter safety, Iraqi security officials have said they will use decoy polling stations during Sunday's national election. Iraqi Army Major Hamid Al Jubarah said, "We will have decoy voter centres, so those who want to bomb won’t know which ones are real." The UK Press Association [...]

Russian authorities said Wednesday that they will pursue a bribery case against Yulia Tymoshenko , new Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko's pick for prime minister. Tymoshenko faces allegations that she tried to inflate the price of supply contracts with the Russian military when she headed Ukraine's energy grid. A Russian court has already issued an order [...]

UN Children's Fund officials have confirmed 40 cases of children being abducted or recruited as soldiers by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebel group since December's tsunami disaster . According to UNICEF spokesman Martin Dawes, "We have had 40 verified cases by UNICEF of child recruitment of the LTTE since the tsunami. When we say verified, [...]

BBC News is reporting that British police have released all four British detainees recently freed from Guantanamo Bay without charge. The four men were released from Guantanamo Bay to British officials on Tuesday and London Metropolitan Police Commissioner said yesterday that no prosecutions will proceed against the former detainees based material gathered by UK MI5 [...]

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has topped a roster of potential nominees to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist should he retire, according to the results of a Zogby poll released Wednesday. O'Connor garnered support from 18% of those polled, while more conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia pulled in 13 and 8 percent [...]

US House Committee on the Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner, Jr. introduced legislation Wednesday that contains provisions restricting terrorist travel that were dropped from the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 , which was enacted in December . According to Sensenbrenner, the proposed Real ID Act "seeks to prevent another 9/11-type attack by disrupting [...]

The Japanese Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the government can block foreigners from being promoted in public service jobs without violating the country's constitution . South Korean citizen Chong Hyang-gyun sued the Japanese government for the right to taken an exam for a promotion to a managerial position. The Tokyo High Court had ruled that [...]

Steven Hopper, lawyer for soon-to-be-released Australian Gitmo detainee Mamdouh Habib , has said that Habib has been subject to atrocities fit for a "vulgar concentration camp" while detained at Guantanamo Bay. Hopper said that interrogators told Habib they had killed his family and that prostitutes were used as part of the interrogations. Habib allegedly told [...]

In Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, the agreement by Lenovo , China's largest computer supplier, to takeover IBM's PC division for $1.75 billion is in jeopardy of falling apart as congressional Republicans warned that the sale could threaten US security interests. Three Republican committee chairmen led by Duncan Hunter , chairman of the House [...]