According to a Russian human rights lawyer, the Russian Constitutional Court has cleared the way for lower court reconsideration and possible exoneration of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, the "White Russian" leader of anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia who was recognized by his supporters as the Supreme Ruler of Russia until he was captured by the Red Army [...]

Crusading New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced Tuesday that he will run for Governor of New York in 2006. Spitzer, a Democrat, has been New York attorney general since 1999 and appears to have his party's nomination within easy reach absent any competition from other prominent Democrats and with the support of former governor [...]

Hamid Karzai was officially sworn in Tuesday as President of Afghanistan in an invitation-only ceremony in Kabul. Karzai won the October 9 presidential election with 55.4% of the vote (certified results here). BBC News has more.

The leaseholder of the World Trade Center, destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, won a major legal victory Monday when a Manhattan jury agreed that the attack on the Twin Towers constituted two events for insurance purposes, not just one. If let stand, the verdict would allow Larry Silverstein to get twice as [...]

Dan Tokaji, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University: "Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has certified that President Bush won the state by about 119,000 votes, even as third-party candidates and independent groups continue to question the result. The New York Times has this report. On Wednesday, the Alliance for Democracy reportedly plans to [...]

AP has obtained a letter written by an FBI counterterrorism expert working at Guantanamo Bay that complains of abusive military interrogations of prisoners as early as 2002. The letter, written by Thomas Harrington to Maj. Gen. Donald J. Ryder, the Army's chief law enforcement officer, described "highly aggressive interrogation techniques being used against detainees in [...]

English comedian Rowan Atkinson, famed for his starring role in Blackadder and other UK comedy series, lashed out Monday evening against a proposed UK law to ban the incitement of religious hatred. Speaking at a meeting in Westminster Hall convened by writers, MPs and groups opposed to the legislation, Atkinson warned that such a law [...]

Dutch authorities announced Monday that they have arrested a man on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list (see this listing from 2000) for supplying lethal chemicals to Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s. Frans van Anraat, now 62, is said to have supplied Iraq with the main ingredient of mustard gas used in the Iran-Iraq war. [...]

A trial began Monday in Rabat of five Moroccans formerly held by the US at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, charged with belonging to or assisting a criminal group that was preparing to commit terrorist acts. The five, turned over to Moroccan authorities in August, are all alleged to be Al Qaeda members and are said to [...]

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Washington, confirmed Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming a lack of funds to cover claims arising from multiple lawsuits against it alleging child sexual abuse by multiple clergy. The diocese already faces at least 19 suits by 58 plaintiffs for some $77 million, and diocesan leaders [...]