Malaysian officials extended Malaysia's amnesty for illegal immigrants indefinitely Wednesday based on a request from Indonesia, according to Home Minister Azmi Khalid. Indonesia, whose citizens make up a majority of illegal immigrants in Malaysia, asked that the amnesty be extended in light of the recent tsunami disaster . AFP has more However, Deputy Prime Minister [...]

Members of the Idaho Senate voted against a proposal to ban same-sex marriages Wednesday for the second consecutive year. The defeated measure would have amended the Idaho Constitution to read: SECTION 28. MARRIAGE. Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. This state [...]

US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled Wednesday that the Central Intelligence Agency should comply with Freedom of Information Act requests made by the American Civil Liberties Union and turn over its records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq. The CIA had argued that it should not have to comply with the ACLU's FOIA requests [...]

Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, Putnam Investments , the eighth-largest US mutual fund company, may have to increase the restitution it had agreed to pay investors as part of the massive securities fraud at the company. As part of an agreement with the SEC and Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin , [...]

A bill seeking to impose stricter standards on federal courts before they can issue subpoenas to reporters was introduced in the US House Wednesday. According to Congressman Mike Pence , the Free Flow of Information Act seeks to make mandatory Justice Department guidelines for issuing subpoenas to members of the media and provides protection against [...]

The New York Stock Exchange released a previously confidential report Wednesday that provides details of former Chairman Richard Grasso's compensation package. New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos ruled last week that the so-called Webb report was not subject to attorney-client privilege, and the NYSE released the report to avoid "almost endless litigation with regard [...]

The Kansas House of Representatives has given its preliminary approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and would prohibit the state from allowing civil unions or granting benefits normally associated with marriage to same-sex couples, by a vote of 89-28. A final vote to approve the amendment is scheduled Wednesday, and [...]

A European Union spokesperson said Wednesday that the EU supports the UN proposal to try those suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur at the International Criminal Court . Listen to recorded audio of EU spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj Tardio's remarks. The US does not endorse the UN plan to try Sudanese war criminals at the [...]

Federal appeals judge Michael Chertoff told a Senate committee Wednesday that if he were confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security he would balance "the imperatives of security with the preservation of liberty and privacy." Testifying before the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee in the wake of news reports that as head [...]

Outgoing US Attorney General John Ashcroft took some parting shots Tuesday at a recent Supreme Court sentencing ruling and at critics opposed to renewal of the Patriot Act. Addressing a staunchly conservative crowd at Washington's Heritage Foundation , Ashcroft argued that the low crime rate reported in the last several years was a direct result [...]