Israeli police Thursday concluded a corruption investigation into Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert , telling prosecutors at the Ministry of Justice that they do not believe there is enough evidence to indict Olmert on allegations that he illegally interfered with the 2005 state sale of Bank Leumi . Olmert, then Minister of Finance, allegedly attempted [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Thursday rejected White House assertions of executive privilege in the ongoing congressional investigations into the US Attorneys firing scandal . Leahy issued a ruling in which he directed the White House to comply with formal committee subpoenas for documents and the testimony of White House Chief [...]

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pledged to lift emergency rule in the country on December 16 in a televised speech Thursday delivered after he took the presidential oath of office as a civilian Thursday morning. Pakistani media quoted Musharraf as saying: It is my intention to lift the state of emergency from the country on Dec [...]

The three British bankers known as the NatWest three pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire fraud as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary had been indicted on seven counts of wire fraud for allegedly entering into a secret agreement with former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew [...]

Judges, lawyers, and court clerks went on strike in France Thursday to protest a proposal to eliminate 319 French courts. French Justice Minister Rachida Dati has proposed the cutbacks, which the Magistrates' Trade Union says has been mishandled by Dati and the Justice Department. DPA has more. Dati has been involved in several controversies since [...]

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was sworn in to a new five-year term as the country's civilian president Thursday, taking the oath of office under the 1973 Constitution a day after stepping down as chief of the army . Delivering his inaugural address , Musharraf defended his decision to declare a state of emergency earlier this [...]

R (on the application of Countryside Alliance and others and others (Appellants)) v Her Majesty's Attorney General and another (Respondents), House of Lords, November 28, 2007 . Read the full text of the judgment. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Human rights groups have expressed concerns about repression and rights violations in the run-up to Russian parliamentary elections scheduled for Sunday. Amnesty International (AI), alleged Wednesday that the Russian government has interfered with opposition parties' rights of freedom of expression and free assembly . It characterized opposition candidate and former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov – [...]

The Japanese House of Councillors passed a bill Wednesday to end Japan's air force mission in Iraq, with opposition leaders insisting that Japan should work through the United Nations rather than the United States. Japan withdrew its ground troops from Iraq last July, but a Japanese unit stationed in Kuwait still provides air support for [...]

A military court established in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian militant group Hamas handed down its first ruling on Wednesday, sentencing three members of rival party Fatah to 18 months in prison and fining them $280. A fourth Fatah member was sentenced to one year in prison and a $140 fine. The four men [...]