The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First announced at a press conference Tuesday morning that they had filed a lawsuit in Illinois against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and several other US military officials on behalf of eight former detainees who claim they were tortured and abused by US personnel in Iraq and [...]

A US district judge found her husband and mother murdered in her Chicago home Monday evening. Police did not provide any details on the killings, but media reports indicated that the bodies were those of Michael F. Lefkow and Donna Humphrey. White supremacist Matthew Hale was convicted in April 2004 for attempting to arrange the [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the US government was liable for agreements to cover contract costs for several Indian tribes despite arguments that Congress did not appropriate funds for the full amount. Under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act , tribes may undertake and be reimbursed for programs that would otherwise be [...]

CBS News is reporting that the US Supreme Court has struck down the possibility of the death penalty for juvenile killers. SCOTUSBlog has more on the Court's 5-4 opinion in Roper v. Simmons, 03-633. 10:30 AM ET – In an opinion authored by Justice Kennedy, the Court wrote: The differences between juvenile and adult offenders [...]

Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, telecommunications entrepreneur Walter Anderson, Washington business executive who earned nearly a half-billion dollars through off-shore ventures, was indicted in a $200 million income tax evasion scheme. The indictment charges Anderson with engaging in the elaborate tax evasion scheme, obstructing the IRS , and defrauding the government by failing [...]

Rhode Island became the seventh state to ban smoking indoors Tuesday, as a state law took effect at midnight. The ban covers all indoor workplaces and almost all bars and restaurants, but certain bars not serving food and private clubs have until October to comply with the law. Several state gambling facilities are exempt. Read [...]

China Tuesday criticized a US State Department report on its human rights record, accusing the United States of using human rights to interfere in the country's internal affairs. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman also alleged human rights abuses by the US, both at home and internationally, although it did not point to specific incidents. The [...]

The US military has appointed a three-star general to take over the investigation into alleged abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and extended the deadline for completion until March 31. Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall "Mark" Schmidt will take over the investigation. The appointment of a higher-ranking officer to lead the probe allows higher-ranking officials [...]

In Tuesday's international brief, a UN report not yet released publicly has called for in-country courts martial of UN peacekeepers who are accused of sexual abuse, according to a UN official. The report, written by Jordanian UN ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein, suggests that the courts martial occur in the country where the complaints were [...]

France has replaced the US as the industrialized nation receiving the most asylum applications from refugees, though overall numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Europe and North America have reached their lowest levels since 1988, according to report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees released Tuesday. According the UNHCR report, Asylum Levels and Trends [...]