The French Senate and National Assembly Thursday approved the new EU reform treaty , properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon . The treaty now goes to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for signature. France's opposition Socialist Party had pushed for a national referendum regarding the ratification of the treaty, but the National Assembly Wednesday voted [...]

Canadian Federal Court Justice Anne Mactavish Thursday refused to issue an interlocutory injunction that would have prohibited the Canadian military from turning over detainees to Afghan authorities. Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) had requested the injunction, alleging that detainees may be subjected to torture in Afghan custody and that [...]

Former Yukos executive and lawyer Vasily Aleksanian will be transferred from jail to a civilian clinic for medical treatment, Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service said Thursday. The announcement apparently reverses a Wednesday Russian court ruling denying Aleksanian temporary medical release . The European Court of Human Rights has called on Russia three times to move Aleksanian [...]

The UK Home Office Thursday approved the extradition of Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to the United States on charges of supporting terrorism. Abu Hamza, currently serving a seven-year sentence in the UK for urging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims, faces US charges of attempting to establish terrorist training camps in Oregon, [...]

Lawyers for Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan argued at a preliminary hearing Thursday that the charges against Hamdan should be dropped because his alleged crimes were not considered violations of the rules of war at the time they were committed and that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was not intended to create [...]

US Attorney General Michael Mukasey Thursday rejected Democratic calls to launch a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into the CIA's admitted use of waterboarding on three terror detainees. In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Mukasey said that because the CIA had relied on a DOJ opinion that found waterboarding to be legal, it would [...]

The Pakistani Interior Ministry has arrested two suspects for their alleged involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto , officials said Thursday. The two men, identified only as Hasnain and Rafaqat, are said by the Pakistani government to be "two very important alleged terrorists." AFP has more. AP has additional coverage. In [...]

Former Khmer Rouge official Nuon Chea asked the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) to release him from provisional detention Thursday and argued that his prior contact with the court was illegal because he did not have a lawyer with him and had not waived his right to counsel. [...]

Chadian President Idriss Deby said Thursday that he is prepared to pardon six aid workers convicted in Chad in December of attempting to kidnap 103 African children. In an interview with Europe-1 radio, Deby said that he was willing to issue a pardon but could only do so if he received a request from France. [...]

Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi has issued a decree barring judges from ordering the detention of suspects without the filing of formal charges, Iranian media reported Wednesday. Currently, the Iranian Constitution allows suspects to be held for up to 24 hours without charges. The decree also calls on judicial institutions to refrain from summoning [...]