The Russian Foreign Ministry responded Wednesday to American criticisms of Russia's human rights record in the recent 2004 US State Department human rights reports by accusing the US of double standards. The State Department reports, released Monday , had cited Russian law enforcement for its use of torture, violence, and other degrading or humiliating treatment, [...]

The US Supreme Court Wednesday considered two high-profile cases on the constitutionality of public displays of the Ten Commandments. The Court heard oral arguments in Van Orden v. Perry regarding a large and prominently-displayed monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state Capitol appealed from], and in ACLU v. McCreary County , [...]

Dietrich Snell, senior counsel for the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States and NY deputy attorney general, said Wednesday that he will testify at the German trial of 9/11 suspect Mounir El Motassadeq . Motassadeq was convicted in 2003 for his alleged role in the 9/11 terror plot, but that conviction was [...]

In Wednesday's environmental law news, the South African government has approved a plan to construct the first windfarm in the country. The Director-General for Environmental Affairs and Tourism has approved the windfarm for the Darling district of Western Cape that will include 4 Danish-designed wind turbines and is expected to produce 5.2 megawatts of electricity. [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Wednesday partially reversed a lower court decision that exposed Microsoft to $565 million in damages for patent infringement. The lower court had found that Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser infringed on technology developed by Eolas Technologies and the University of California, but in its opinion Wednesday, the [...]

Lawyers for former investment banker Frank Quattrone said Wednesday that Quattrone is appealing his permanent ban from the securities industry . Last November, the National Association of Securities Dealers permanently barred Quattrone from working in the securities industry in any capacity for refusing to testify about his possible involvement in document destruction and obstruction of [...]

British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday refused to amend the proposed Prevention of Terrorism Bill to include a sunset clause that would require ministers to revisit the legislation in November. The Conservative Party have said that they will vote against the anti-terror bill unless the sunset clause is included, but Blair said Wednesday that the [...]

The US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Wednesday approved the Transportation Equity Act . The six-year, $284 billion highway and mass transit bill stalled last year over funding disputes between the White House and Congress, but chances for passage are now improved, as the White House supports the current version. The infrastructure initiative will [...]

US District Judge Richard Cebull ordered a temporary halt Wednesday to Bush administration plans to allow the resumption of imports of Canadian cattle next week. Judge Cebull granted a preliminary injunction preventing a USDA regulation allowing Canadian cattle imports to resume from taking effect as scheduled Monday. R-CALF USA , an organization representing US cattle [...]

Drug trafficking in Afghanistan threatens to undermine the rule of law and democracy in the country, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Narcotics Control Board , the independent body charged with monitoring implementation of UN drug conventions. The INCB 2004 Annual Report also expresses concern about drug trafficking in Iraq, saying "The [...]