The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Russia would be unable to submit an amended border treaty with Estonia to the Russian parliament because amendments inserted by Estonia were an "unambiguously negative assessment in Russian society" . The changes made include indirect references to the Soviet-era occupation of the Baltic states, although Russia maintains that [...]

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction told a House subcommittee hearing focused on the US handling of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) on Tuesday that evidence relating to finances used for reconstruction has been handed over to the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Stuart Bowen Jr. said the evidence points [...]

A lawyer for the first Kuwaiti inmate to be freed from the Guantanamo Bay detention center argued before a Kuwait City tribunal Wednesday that his client should not be tried in Kuwaiti court and complained he was only given a summary of US interrogations. Nasser al-Mutairi was detained in Afghanistan in 2001 and freed after [...]

Jassim al-Issawi, a Sunni Muslim Iraqi judge whose name was at one point on the list to serve on a parliamentary committee to draft Iraq's new constitution was killed by gunmen in Baghdad on Wednesday. Al-Issawi, who was later dropped from the committee, also served as a law professor at Baghdad University and was the [...]

Eight men accused of recruiting people to carry out suicide bombings in Iraq have been jailed in Spain following several days of questioning, officials of the National Court announced Tuesday. Spanish Judge Fernando Grande-Malarska freed 3 other men, who were also part of the group arrested last week, suspected of being members of al-Qaida in [...]

Documents released by a US congressional panel Tuesday show that the UN Security Council was aware that Saddam Hussein was violating UN sanctions, but was so split that many breaches went unchecked. Among the breaches were maintaining diplomatic ties to other nations, encouraging other nations to start commercial flights to Baghdad, reopening an oil pipeline [...]

Citing recent attacks, Israel announced Wednesday it has resumed a policy of "targeted assassinations" of Islamic Jihad militants, abandoned in February as part of a ceasefire deal. The policy has proved controversial, with critics disputing its legality and questioning whether such killings are committed in self-defense, whether they necessary to prevent immediate threats, and whether [...]

France's Justice Ministry announced Wednesday that it would appeal the "lenient" sentences imposed on French peacekeeping soldiers convicted Tuesday by a Paris military court of robbing an Ivory Coast bank while supporting a UN peacekeeping operation in the area. Eight of the soldiers were sentenced to a year in jail, while the other four were [...]

The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Wednesday on HJ Res. 10 , a proposed constitutional amendment to criminalize the desecration of the American flag. If it passes in the House, it will go to the Senate for approval, then must be ratified by 38 states. Opponents of the measure believe it restricts [...]

Chamber of Commerce of the USA v. SEC, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, June 21, 2005 . Excerpt: We hold the Commission did not exceed its statutory authority in adopting the two conditions, and the Commission's rationales for the two conditions satisfy the APA. We agree with the Chamber, [...]