The French Constitutional Court on Wednesday struck down two articles in a small and medium enterprise (SME) access to credit law that would have legalized Islamic law compliant financial instruments in France. Socialist Party (PS) members of the National Assembly petitioned the court to review two articles that would have legalized Sharia-compliant sukuk, securities that [...]

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Turkish human rights and foreign relations are reportedly compromising the country's efforts toward European Union (EU) accession, receiving mixed reviews Wednesday in the European Commission's annual reports on enlargement strategy and candidate progress . According to the reports, "oncerns remain in a number of areas, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of [...]

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HR 2892: Making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for thefiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes, US House of Representatives, approved October 15, 2009 . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here. Latest commentary available here. JURIST has more on the issues relating to the anticipated closure of Guantanamo Bay.

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The US House of Representatives voted 307-114 Thursday to approve legislation that would allow Guantanamo Bay detainees to be transferred to US soil for prosecution. The measure was part of a $42.7 billion spending bill for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) . The legislation would forbid the release of Guantanamo detainees onto US [...]

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday reiterated her support for the recommendations of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict . In a statement to the 12th Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Pillay said that she agrees [...]

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The trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Wednesday that the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will begin on October 26. Karadzic will stand trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity after the ICTY Appeals Chamber rejected his plea for immunity, allegedly [...]

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