Christopher Hill : "Italy's decision on March 3 to completely abolish capital punishment is yet more proof that the world is moving away from this ineffective and unjust system. There has not been an execution by a member of the Council of Europe in over 10 years, and 41 out of the 47 members of [...]

Steven Emerson : "The University of Texas School of Law National Security Clinic, joined by several other advocacy organizations, has filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc. (KindHearts) in the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. KindHearts, an Islamic charity, is the plaintiff in the [...]

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir pledged his commitment to the peace process in his country at a Saturday rally, while deriding expelled aid groups and the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this week. At the rally, al-Bashir told the assembled crowd that the country would not stray from the [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Friday rejected an attempt by former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich to have US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois removed from his federal corruption case. The ruling by Judge James Holderman denied Blagojevich's [...]

Armenian international arms dealer Artur Solomonyan was sentenced to 22 years in prison Friday for attempting to smuggle weapons from Eastern Europe into the US, according to the US Attorney's Office for Southern District of New York . Solomonyan and South African Christiaan Spies were found to be the leaders of a group of 18, [...]

A three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Friday upheld the 2006 convictions of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (D) and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy on federal bribery and corruption charges. The reversed two counts of mail fraud against Siegelman based a lack of evidence, but upheld [...]

Organic grocer Whole Foods Market agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Friday over its 2007 merger with rival grocer Wild Oats Market . If approved by the FTC Commissioners, the settlement will require Whole Foods to divest itself of approximately 32 store locations, including 13 operating stores and 19 [...]

A Turkish court ordered the arrest of Cumhuriyet journalist Mustafa Balbay Thursday for his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) . Balbay was arrested along with internet publisher Neriman Aydin as part of the ongoing probe into secular group Ergenekon . The Ergenekon probe has been criticized [...]

The US Supreme Court on Friday granted a motion by the US government to dismiss as moot an appeal challenging the indefinite detention of suspected al Qaeda operative Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri . The Court had granted certiorari in December on al-Marri's appeal of a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth [...]

Defense lawyers for former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Friday sought to have new charges of embezzlement and money laundering against Khordorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev  dropped. The two men are accused of illegally taking approximately $20 billion from Russian energy firm OAO Yukos Oil Co. , but challenged the allegations, asserting that the evidence against [...]