Alexei Kurtsin, former manager at Yukos-Moskva – the financial and management center for Russian oil company Yukos , was convicted on Thursday of embezzling and laundering funds and sentenced to 14 years in maximum-security prison. Kurtsin's sentence was even harsher than the 13-year sentence demanded by prosecutors, and the second longest sentence given out to [...]

A US Army officer has been arrested on bribery, money laundering, theft, and wire fraud charges as part of an illegal scheme during his service with the US governing administration in Iraq, according to US Department of Justice officials Thursday. During his time in Iraq, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Michael Wheeler was responsible for developing [...]

A Paris court on Thursday overturned the convictions of six people who were found guilty of pedophilia last year. The six, and several others, had been accused of raping their own and other children, after a seven-year-old boy reported that he had been raped by adults at orgies at his parents' apartment. The boy's mother, [...]

Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th person executed Friday since the US Supreme Court reinstated the country's capital punishment program in 1977 after a 10-year moratorium. Boyd, who was convicted of fatally shooting his wife and father-in-law 17 years ago, did not deny the killings but said he thought he should receive a life jail [...]

The Belgian Chamber , the lower house of parliament, approved a bill on Friday that will allow same-sex couples to legally adopt children. The bill must pass approval by the Belgian Senate before becoming law. The Senate is expected to hold hearings on the bill in March. If approved, Belgium would become the third European [...]

Leading Friday's international brief, the Ugandan government has rejected a call by the Pan African Parliament (PAP) to release Kizza Besigye as illegal and contrary to the aims of the African Union and the PAP. Ugandan government Spokesman and State Minister for Information Dr. James Nsaba Buturo told reporters Friday that the PAP's demand that [...]

Belgium Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx said Thursday that Belgian anti-terror raids held Tuesday night, which resulted in 15 arrests , were accelerated in order to stem the effects of a leak reported in the French media. Authorities in France, led by French Justice Minister Pascal Clement , have begun an investigation into the leak which [...]

European Union justice and security ministers announced the adoption of a new anti-terror strategy and action plan at an EU Council meeting in Brussels Thursday. The UK-sponsored proposal is intended to fight radicalization and the recruitment of potential supporters into terrorist groups throughout Europe, and is a response to the terrorist bombings in Madrid (March [...]

Minister of Home Affairs and Another v Fourie and Another, Constitutional Court of South Africa, December 1, 2005 . Read the full text of the judgment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Jordan's King Abdullah II has urged the Jordanian parliament to quickly approve new anti-terrorism legislation, drafted two weeks ago in the wake of last month's hotel bombing that left 57 people dead. During the Thursday opening of the third parliamentary session since 2003 elections, King Abdullah II said that "we do realize that Jordan's location, [...]