UN Under-Secretary-General Sergei Ordzhonikidze on Friday condemned calls by Libyan leader Muamar Gaddafi for a jihad on Switzerland. Gaddafi issued the call in response to Switzerland's recent vote to ban the construction of minarets . Ordzhonikidze called the declaration "inadmissible" . Also Friday, a spokesperson for EU high representative Catherine Ashton criticized Gaddafi's calls. Gaddafi [...]

Paul Sherman : "March 24, 2009, was a defining moment in the history of the First Amendment. On that day, during oral argument in Citizens United v. FEC, Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart told the members of the Supreme Court that, under the Court's 1990 decision in Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the government [...]

The US House of Representatives on Thursday approved a measure to extend expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act with no new privacy measures. Representatives voted 315-97 in favor of the measure, which would allow federal authorities to conduct "roving" wiretaps, to compel the production of business, medical, and library records, and to track so-called [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has returned a five-count superseding indictment against suspected terrorists Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay. The men, both US citizens, have been charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction [...]

The Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled Friday to seize 46.4 billion baht (USD $1.4 billion) in assets from ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra for abuses of power while in office. The court found that Thaksin crafted government telecommunications policy to benefit his family by providing them with shares in Shin Corporation . The shares were [...]

Myanmar's Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the latest appeal by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi against the extension of her house arrest. The court heard Suu Kyi's latest appeal to the 18-month extension last month. Suu Kyi appealed to the supreme court in November after a lower court found her guilty of violating the [...]

The England and Wales Court of Appeal on Friday disclosed additional text that was omitted from a previous ruling related to former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed . The language in question is critical of British intelligence service MI5 , suggesting that its agents were aware of Mohamed's "mistreatment" while in US custody despite reports [...]

Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation on Thursday overturned the bribery conviction of David Mills , a British barrister and former lawyer to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi . The court agreed with prosecutors who said the statute of limitations had expired , but fined Mills €250,000 for damaging the state's reputation and ordered Mills to [...]

A Turkish court charged an additional 11 military officers Friday morning as the investigation into the military's so-called "Sledgehammer plot" to overthrow the government continues, bringing the total charged so far to 31. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at a Justice Development Party (AKP) meeting, vowing that all those involved in the plot [...]

French President Nicholas Sarkozy admitted Thursday that France and the international community made "mistakes" in handling the 1994 Rwandan genocide . Sarkozy spoke while on a visit to Rwanda to meet with President Paul Kagame , the first visit to Rwanda by a French president since the genocide of the Tutsi people by the Hutus. [...]