The two largest political parties in the European Parliament have agreed to support a draft bill designed to require all European-based telecommunications companies to store records of phone and email users for up to 24 months to aid in criminal investigations by police officials into serious crimes like terrorism. The head of the Civil Liberties [...]

A Russian bill designed to increase state control over non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by requiring them to register with a governmental commission has draw sharp criticism from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as troubling to the US government "at all levels." Rice, speaking in Ukraine Wednesday, warned that freely-operating NGOs were necessary to ensuring stable [...]

French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has stated that contrary to press reports, French airports were 'apparently not' used by CIA 'ghost flights' allegedly moving US detainees around the world where they might have been tortured for information. She stressed the fact that the CIA primarily uses American bases in Europe for flight stops and there [...]

French judges ruled Wednesday against the deportation of a 21-year old Mauritanian man accused of participating in the suburban riots that broke out across France last month. The regional court in Pontoise , a town of 30,000 just outside Paris, concluded that allegations against the alleged rioter of "grave acts of violence against a law [...]

On Terrorists and Torturers, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, December 7, 2005 . Excerpt: No one disputes that Governments have not only the right but also the duty to protect their citizens from attacks. The threat of international terrorism calls for increased coordination by law enforcement authorities within and across borders. And [...]

Fraternal Order of Police, North Dakota State Lodge et al. v. Wayne Stenehjem, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of North Dakota, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, December 7, 2005 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A memo obtained Wednesday shows that the top US general in Iraq, Gen. George Casey , was aware of reports of abuse of detainees by Iraqi security forces in June. The memo, dated June 22, indicated that Casey heard reports of serious physical abuse of detainees by Iraqi forces, months before US forces discovered detainees [...]

Supporters of a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts delivered 170,000 signatures to the secretary of state Wednesday, moving them one step closer to putting the initiative on the ballot in 2008. The drive, headed by the Massachusetts Family Institute and other conservatives, resulted in 147,000 certified signatures, with only 65,825 needed to [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Wednesday said that the US-led war on terror has threatened the world ban on torture and weakened the US' international standing on human rights. Arbour said that "unassailable" principles against torture had been sacrificed in the war on terror, pointing to secret detention centers for prisoners [...]

Lockhart v. US, Supreme Court of the United States, December 7, 2005 . Read the full text of the majority opinion per Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.