Legal advisers to the 27 countries belonging to the European Union (EU) agreed Tuesday that the proposed EU Reform Treaty is ready for approval. The new treaty, which will replace the failed EU constitution , will be the topic of discussion at a meeting in Luxembourg on October 15, and could potentially gain full EU [...]

Canadian Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson Tuesday said that he intends to introduce legislation to criminalize identity theft and assist law enforcement officials in apprehending criminals before they can use stolen identities to commit fraud. Currently, Canada's Criminal Code criminalizes identity fraud, impersonation, and forgery, but does not cover preliminary steps of obtaining, possessing, and [...]

Founder and chief executive of Blackwater USA Erik Prince testified in a hearing Tuesday before the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that employees of his security firm have "distinguished records" and have never intentionally killed civilians. His testimony came one day after the FBI announced that it would send a team of investigators [...]

Pakistan agreed Tuesday to drop pending corruption charges against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , permitting Bhutto to enter the country for talks between her Pakistani People's Party and President Pervez Musharraf . Musharraf is seeking Bhutto's endorsement as he faces a controversial re-election October 6. Bhutto left the country in 1999 in the face [...]

Israel released 29 Palestinian detainees and returned them to Gaza Tuesday, adding to Monday's return of 57 prisoners to the West Bank for a total of 86 prisoners released this week. The releases are meant as a gesture of good will toward Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the eve of a meeting between Abbas and [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in Kimbrough v. United States , 06-6330, in which the Court considered whether a district judge, in seeking to impose a sentence that is "sufficient but not greater than necessary," should have discretion to sentence a defendant to a prison term lesser than what is recommended by [...]

The South African Constitutional Court Tuesday dismissed the final appeal of businessman Schabir Shaik, a former business associate of former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma , who was seeking to have his 2005 conviction for fraud and corruption overturned. The court found no merit in Shaik's allegations that his trial was unfair. The Court [...]

American Historical Association, et al., v. National Archives and Records Administration, US District Court for the District of Columbia, October 1, 2007 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Jack Landman Goldsmith , former head of the US Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel and now a Harvard Law School professor, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that he "could not find the legal support for" portions of the Bush Administration's controversial domestic surveillance program during his tenure with DOJ. Goldsmith nonetheless [...]

The Director of Administration of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) , the court established to try former Khmer Rouge leaders, agreed late Monday to make public the text of a controversial audit of the ECCC's human resources practices. The audit was authorized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in February [...]