Farzana Hassan : "The French parliament is currently debating the legality of a proposed ban on the burka, the full veil worn by some conservative Muslim women. In a statement endorsing the recommendations of the parliament, President Sarkozy mentioned equality and liberty as the reasons for the proposed legislation. Not surprisingly, this controversial move has [...]

Niger President Mamadou Tandja was taken hostage on Thursday in an apparent coup attempt by dissident army officials, leaving at least three Nigerien soldiers dead. The opposition forces invaded the presidential palace with machine guns during a meeting of government ministers and kidnapped Tandja along with half of his cabinet. The attack comes six months [...]

The Polish government joined a class-action on lawsuit Wednesday brought against Russia for the 1940 Katyn Massacre where 20,000 Poles were killed by the USSR. The suit , filed in May in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is being brought by 13 Polish citizens who are relatives of the victims. They allege that [...]

International Criminal Court (ICC) deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda arrived in Guinea Wednesday for a three-day investigation into the killing of more than 150 civilians in Conakry in September. During her investigation, Bensouda will determine whether the ICC has jurisdiction to try those responsible for the massacre if the government fails to do so. Bensouda has [...]

Lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr filed an emergency motion Wednesday in the Canadian Federal Court challenging a diplomatic note sent by the Canadian government to the US State Department . The note asks that all evidence collected by Canadian officials be omitted from any US proceedings against Khadr but declines to seek his [...]

A federal judge on Thursday decided that the criminal trial of Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam will begin October 25. Prosecutors had asked the judge to schedule the trial for June or July , but Rajaratnam and former hedge fund consultant Danielle Chiesi asked for more time to prepare a defense, saying it [...]

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday appointed 34 new judges , including three to the country's Supreme Court , after Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry blocked Zardari's original selections. The court blocked the selections last week because Zardari did not consult with the Supreme Court prior to making the nominations, as mandated by section [...]

The French Court of Cassation on Wednesday reversed an appellate court decision to overturn the convictions of five former Guantanamo Bay detainees, remanding the case to the lower court. A court spokesperson said the case will be heard by a specially created panel of the Paris appeals court. Regardless of the outcome, it is unlikely [...]

The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission on Wednesday overturned a man's 1993 murder conviction in its first exoneration of an inmate who claimed to have been wrongly convicted. George Taylor, who had served 17 years of a life sentence and had exhausted all other appeals options, became the first person to be exonerated under the [...]

A Haitian judge on Wednesday ordered the release of eight of the 10 US missionaries held in a Haitian jail on kidnapping charges in the wake of the January 12 earthquake . Eight of the 10 members of the missionary group, affiliated with the Central Valley Baptist Church of Idaho and the New Life Children's [...]