US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Germany, Romania, and the European Union headquarters in Brussels next week in an attempt to defuse increasing pressure by the EU to respond to allegations that the CIA has been operating secret European prisons to interrogate al Qaeda suspects. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that [...]

Canadian legislators voted Monday night to defeat the Liberal minority government on a no-confidence motion proposed by the three opposition parties. The 171 to 133 House of Commons vote forces Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to visit Governor General Michaelle Jean Tuesday to formally request that Parliament be dissolved and that an election date be [...]

Federal prosecutors filed a proposed jury questionnaire in US district court Monday requesting permission to ask questions regarding the religious beliefs of potential jurors in the case against Zacarias Moussaoui for his involvement in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The US government is seeking the death penalty against Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to six [...]

Margaret Bradshaw, Warden v. Kenneth T. Richey, Supreme Court of the United States, November 28, 2005 . Read the full text of the Opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Federated Investors has agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations of improper trading . The investment firm was accused of allowing $1.6 billion in rapid trades by the hedge fund Canary Capital Partners in exchange for a fund investment which brought extra fees to Federated and also for allowing after-hours transactions. New York Attorney [...]

Provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005, Parliament of Australia, Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee, November 28, 2005 . Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A three-judge panel of the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday upheld a lower court decision striking down a Missouri law restricting late-term abortions. The Infant Protection Act was passed in July 2004 and made it unlawful for any person to "cause the death of a living infant with the purpose to cause death [...]

Leading Monday's environmental law news, the eleventh session of the United Nations Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 11) began today with the first session of the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 1) in Montreal, Canada. The meetings will be running from November 28 to December 9 [...]

Armenian electoral officials report that nearly 64 percent of registered voters in the former Soviet republic turned out Sunday to give overwhelming support to a referendum to change the country's constitution and impose stricter separation of powers between judicial, executive and legislative branches, and allow citizens to obtain dual citizenship. The measures are said to [...]

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court announced Monday that the Hague-based court expects its first round of trials to start as early as mid-2006. In connection with this week's meeting of states that have signed the Rome Statute setting up the tribunal, Luis Moreno-Ocampo released a document outlining the court's goals for next [...]