AP is reporting that the Senate will begin confirmation hearings next Monday on the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the US. The Senate Judiciary Committee was originally scheduled to begin its hearings today on Roberts' nomination to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but the hearings were postponed after President Bush tapped Roberts [...]

A spokesman for the Independent Egyptian Committee for Monitoring Elections (IECME) alleged Monday that Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) committed more rule violations in campaigning for the upcoming presidential election than any of the other nine parties. According to a preliminary IECME report, NDP, the party of current Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , received [...]

A former aide to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Monday that his resignation over the weekend was prompted by corruption within the country's leadership. Former state secretary Oleksandr Zinchenko accused several top presidential aides of corruption, including Petro Poroshenko, who heads the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine , and Mykola Martynenko, leader of [...]

Russian Foreign Ministry officials have said that they oppose referring Iran to the UN Security Council over Iran's continued uranium conversion activities . Moscow released a statement Monday announcing that officials "see no grounds for the referral to the UN Security Council of the question which the IAEA is actively and productively concerned with at [...]

Saddam Hussein met with his Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi Monday, after Iraqi authorities announced that his first trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal will begin on October 19 . Hussein faces charges for the 1982 massacre of over 140 Shiites following an assassination attempt on the former dictator's life. Members of Hussein's Jordan-based defense team [...]

Democrats preparing for the upcoming confirmation hearings for US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts say his nomination as Chief Justice means Roberts should face tougher scrutiny, while Republicans say the elevation should not change the confirmation process. In a statement Monday, Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy said, "Before the Senate acts on John Roberts' new nomination, [...]

A member of the Iraqi constitution drafting committee said Tuesday that the extended negotiations over the final wording of the draft constitution have ended without an agreement on changes to the draft. Iraqi lawmakers had resumed negotiations over the weekend in an attempt to achieve consensus on several issues, including Sunni demands that the constitution [...]

A closed session of the Iraqi National Assembly debated a broad new anti-terrorism bill Monday, which would authorize the execution of perpetrators and accomplices of offenses classified as terrorist acts. The bill reportedly includes the following as punishable offenses: attacking Iraqi soldiers, police and diplomatic missions, kidnapping for political, sectarian, ethnic or racial purposes, acts [...]

Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v. Sharman License Holdings Ltd, Federal Court of Australia, September 5, 2005 . Read the full text of the opinion here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The chief of Iran's Judiciary said Monday that Iran objected to the "insignificant and petty" indictment on which former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be tried beginning October 19. The Iraqi government confirmed Sunday that Hussein and several of his lieutenants would go on trial that day for the slaughter of Shiite residents of the [...]