A bill approved by Estonian lawmakers Thursday authorized Internet voting for local elections in the country's capital, Tallinn, scheduled for October. The bill, initiated by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu , Estonia's parliament, will require voters to have an electronic ID card, an ID-card reader, and Internet access. Estonia is said to have [...]

Spc. Sabrina Harman , the latest US soldier to stand trial for involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, pleaded not guilty to charges of abusing detainees in the military prison at the beginning of her trial Thursday. Harman has been charged with conspiracy, dereliction of duty and maltreatment of subordinates, and could face six [...]

Ocalan v. Turkey, Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, May 12, 2005 . Read the full text of the judgment . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The US Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of William Pryor for the US Court of Appeals by a 10-8 party line vote Thursday. Pryor has a temporary place on the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals under a recess appointment made after his nomination failed to pass the committee last year, but he will [...]

Ex-Merrill Lynch investment banker Robert Furst has been fined $565,000 and sentenced to 37 months in federal prison in connection with his role in the Enron scandal. Furst was convicted for setting up a fake deal with Enron in 1999 to boost that company's earnings. Another former Merrill Bank executive had previously been sentenced to [...]

A US sailor who turned against the Iraq war was convicted Wednesday during a special court-martial for failing to report for duty in the Persian Gulf in December. Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes was found guilty by a military judge for missing movement, but not on a second count of unauthorized absence. Paredes faces [...]

GOP Senator George Voinovich surprised observers Thursday when he told colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he will not support the nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations , although he said he would allow the nomination to go forward to the full Senate. Voinovich, who also balked at [...]

Hearings began Thursday in a civil suit filed against the Dutch government by two families of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre . The families claim that the Dutch government should be held responsible because of Dutch peacekeepers' inability to stop Serb forces' slaughter of 7,500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from the UN-protected eastern [...]

Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag , approved the European Constitution Thursday by a 569-23 vote. The Constitution next heads to the Bundesrat , Germany's upper house, where it is also expected to pass. A poll conducted earlier this week showed that 59 percent of Germans support the EU pact . German approval is [...]

Riots in eastern Afghanistan triggered by recent Newsweek-published reports of American desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo continued and spread Thursday, resulting in three more deaths . Rioting has now hit 10 Afghan provinces, including the capital Kabul, and has killed a total of 7 people while injuring 76 others. The US military has launched [...]