Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the European Commission (EC) has announced that it will not be appealing the 2005 European Court of First Instance ruling that held the UK could revise its 2005-07 carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions trading plan without first getting EU approval. The EU emissions trading scheme provides nations with a way to [...]

A French court on Tuesday refused to hear a lawsuit launched to prevent a French newspaper from publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have caused protests and violence across the globe. The suit, brought by five Muslim organizations including the moderate Paris Mosque and the fundamentalist Union of Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF) , [...]

A document released to an Australian commission set up to investigate alleged Australian connections to the oil-for-food scandal Tuesday shows that Saddam Hussein personally assisted the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) in grain distribution in Iraq while it was supposedly paying his government kickbacks. The document, written by former AWB executive Dominic Hogan, describes a meeting [...]

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered the release of Moroccan-born Mounir al-Motassadeq , who was convicted last year in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks , while appeals of the conviction are pending. Motassadeq was convicted of participating in a terrorist cell and sentenced to seven years, but both Motassadeq and prosecutors have challenged [...]

Officials from over 100 countries are meeting in Geneva this week to discuss strengthening a United Nations treaty which controls the use of tobacco products worldwide. The two-week conference is underway to determine further provisions for the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control , which went into effect last year . The WHO [...]

Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda has decided to abandon an agreement with the Vatican , prompting a major breakdown in the Slovak government with the Christian Democrat Movement (KDH) announcing it would leave the government coalition. The controversial document, which has also been criticized by the European Union , contained an "objection of conscience" clause [...]

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday criticized a Constitutional Court ruling that halted the court-martial of opposition leader Kizza Besigye on charges of possessing illegal firearms. Museveni vowed to fight the court ruling politically, even suggesting that a referendum may be used. The government has appealed the ruling to the country's supreme court. The Constitutional [...]

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has promised to target corruption in governments that deal with the bank and in the organization itself during a worldwide staff meeting. As an example, Wolfowitz cited Kenya, from which the World Bank was withholding $250 million in loans due to high-level corruption scandals in the government. Wolfowitz, the former [...]

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday announced proposed new immigration laws that would enable the government to be more selective in allowing newcomers into the country and deciding who can stay, even giving it the right to expel immigrants who do not make efforts to integrate and seek work. Sarkozy's "selected immigration" scheme will [...]

Following angry protests over the Muhammad cartoons by British Muslims in London late last week, UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke Tuesday renewed calls for the inclusion of a "glorifying terrorism" offense in the proposed Terrorism Bill still under consideration by parliament. The glorification offense was recently defeated in the House of Lords , but it [...]