French conservative presidential candidate and current Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed support for Sarkozy's version of a European constitution , although Merkel did not confirm his claim. Sarkozy proposes adopting only the first two chapters of the draft constitution to gain the support of all EU member [...]

UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on Monday decried the new rules governing US military detainee trials contained in the Manual for Military Commissions released late last month. Speaking to the Amercian Bar Association House of Delegates at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Miami, Goldsmith reiterated his call during a previous US visit to shut down [...]

Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell vetoed an amendment to the City Charter Monday that made English the official language of the city government. The Nashville City Council approved the amendment last week, but city attorneys advised Purcell that it violated the state and federal constitutions and could prove expensive if the city was forced to litigate. [...]

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Monday that he favors amending the controversial Article 301 of Turkey's penal code without eliminating the provision altogether. The article makes "insulting the Turkish identity" a crime. Gul expanded on his previous call to change the Article, offering his support to a proposal by a group of trade unions [...]

Giovanni Di Stefano : "The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in the recent case of Shawqi Omar confirms the submissions we made in the cases of Saddam Hussein, Barzan Al Tikriti and Awwad Al Bandar; namely that the US government cannot use the question of jurisdiction to preclude [...]

The cabinet of the Somali transitional government approved a new anti-terrorism law allowing sentences of life imprisonment or execution for engaging in or funding terrorist activity, Somalia's Information Minister Madow Nunow Mohamed announced Monday. The law, which must still be approved by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed , is a reaction to recent violence that the [...]

A Sudanese Foreign Ministry official said Monday that Sudan will prevent a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation team from entering the country unless the UN agrees to replace team member Bertrand Ramcharan . As a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ramcharan has previously accused the Sudanese government of violating human rights in [...]

The Assets Examination Committee in Thailand , charged with investigating allegations of corruption by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family, recommended Monday that criminal tax evasion charges be filed against Thaksin's wife, Pojaman Shinawatra, as well as her secretary and her brother, Bhanapot Damapong. The recommended tax evasion charges stem from an alleged [...]

A German state court in Stuttgart ruled Monday that Brigitte Mohnhaupt , a second-generation member of the ultra-left German group Red Army Faction , also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, will be granted parole on March 27 after being imprisoned for 24 years. The court did not grant Mohnhaupt a pardon, but determined that she [...]

International donors urged Cambodia Monday to finally pass an anti-corruption law that has been in the works for more than a decade. US Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli expressed disappointment on behalf of donors such as Japan, France and the United States that Cambodia has failed to enact the long-delayed anti-corruption law. The law is [...]