The parliaments of Latvia and Lithuania Thursday adopted the new EU reform treaty , properly known as the Treaty of Lisbon , bringing the total number of ratifying nations to 13. All 27 EU countries must approve the Treaty before it takes effect; most ratifications are expected to be parliamentary, although Ireland plans to hold [...]
Turkish President Abdullah Gul Wednesday signed an amendment into law restricting the controversial Article 301 of the country's penal code , which makes "insulting the Turkish identity" a crime. The amendment recharacterizes the crime of "insulting the Turkish identity" as insulting the "Turkish nation," reduces the maximum possible punishment from three years to two years [...]
The European Parliament Thursday approved a report calling for a mandatory registry of lobbyists seeking access to EU lawmakers . The measure was passed 547-24, with 59 abstaining. The Parliament also supported a "one-stop-shop" proposal, which would allow lobbyists to register once to gain access to Parliament, the European Commission, and the European Council , [...]
An Islamic court in Malaysia ruled Thursday that a Buddhist woman who converted to Islam should be allowed to return to her original faith. The ruling is unusual in Malaysia, which has both secular and Sharia courts; Sharia courts rarely allow converts to renounce Islam, a fact which has led to tensions with the country's [...]
The FBI has withdrawn a National Security Letter (NSL) issued against an Internet library website in a settlement announced Wednesday. The FBI had issued the NSL to the Internet Archive , seeking personal information about a particular publicly-unnamed site user; the Archive, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation subsequently filed a [...]
Germany's Federal Constitutional Court Wednesday ruled that German surveillance flights over Turkey conducted in 2003 during the lead-up to the Iraq War were unconstitutional. The court held that the flights equated to "armed deployment," and thus needed to first be approved by the German Bundestag , the lower house of the German parliament. Former Chancellor [...]
A panel convened last week by Pakistan's coalition government has completed a draft parliamentary resolution to reinstate judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year, Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek said late Wednesday. The resolution now goes to the top leadership of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for approval [...]
A Bangladeshi court Wednesday formally charged former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed with corruption under the recommendation of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) . Hasina and eight other people are accused of involvement in an kickback scheme that awarded lucrative gas contracts to Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd . The charges came a [...]
The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the plea agreement made by BP following a 2005 explosion at a Texas City refinery must be sent back to the US district court in Houston for reconsideration. The accident killed 15 and injured 180, but secret negotiations for a plea agreement were conducted without [...]
The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that the Islamic talaq , a controversial practice under which a husband can divorce his wife without her say, violates the state constitution and therefore does not constitute a valid form of divorce in Maryland. The Court held Tuesday that talaq was against Maryland constitutional provisions granting equal [...]
