After almost a decade of delays, Russia and Estonia formally agreed upon a deal fixing borders between the two countries Wednesday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet signed two treaties, one for the land border and one for the maritime border. Russia previously settled a similar dispute with Lithuania in [...]

In the wake of conflicting reports, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on Wednesday urged an independant probe of reports of killings by Uzbekistan security forces. Witnesses say over 500 demonstrators were killed Friday when government troops fired into crowds in the eastern Uzebek city of Andijan. The government places the figure [...]

Senate Republicans picked Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown in the battle with Democrats over nominations to the federal judiciary. Owen is set to be renominated Wednesday with a test vote early next week. Aides to Senator Bill Frist say that if the vote is unsuccessful Frist plans to call a vote on banning judicial [...]

With a close vote already expected in France , a UK group has released a poll showing more than half of British voters oppose the European Constitution . Vote No complains that the new constitution , written following the admittance of 10 new members into the EU, shifts too much power away from individual countries. [...]

The days-long verdict reading in the trial of Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky will continue at least into Thursday and perhaps longer. The court adjourned Wednesday after four hours, prompting defense lawyers to accuse the government of stalling in order to try and downplay a politically-charged case . But defense lawyers appear to have won [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Michael Dougan, Professor of European Law and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law at England's University of Liverpool Law School. says that the UK referendum on the treaty to establish a European Constitution is a high-risk game, both for Europe and for Britain… The EU's Constitutional Treaty, agreed in [...]

AP is reporting that following a sentencing hearing Tuesday , a military jury at Fort Hood has sentenced Spc. Sabrina Harman to six months in prison in connection with her role in abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib. 9:17 PM ET – With credit for time served before trial, Harman will only have to spend [...]

The three main opposition parties in Egypt, the moderate-left Wafd , Marxist Tagamu , and the Nasserist Party have joined forces to voice their opposition to a May 25 referendum on an Egyptian constitutional amendment allowing competitive presidential polls. They charge that the conditions for registration are so stringent that only the ruling National Democratic [...]

The future of a work-in-progress bill to provide $140 billion in asbestos compensation was threatened Tuesday by a looming battle between Republicans and Democrats over judicial nominations. Senators moved a Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee business committee meeting on the subject to Thurday of this week because of intense debates over the nominees expected to take [...]

Army Spc. Sabrina Harman apologized for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison during the sentencing phase of her court-martial at Fort Hood, Texas, Tuesday. Harman was convicted Monday of six of the seven charges brought against her, including threatening an inmate with electrocution while he stood hooded on a [...]