No proof exists that the CIA used secret prisons in eastern Europe for terror suspects, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday. Solana, the high representative for common foreign and security policy in the EU, also told the European Parliament that he lacked the power to investigate the rendition allegations, which first surfaced in [...]

The dominant Sunni Arab political party Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF) on Tuesday called for a leading role on a legislative committee that will consider possible amendments to the Iraqi constitution in upcoming months. Senior IAF official Iyad al-Samarrai said the IAF should lead the committee because the party had demanded the opportunity to amend the [...]

Ten states sued the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday over new fuel economy standards the agency adopted in March . The states, led by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer , are arguing that the new standards for 2008-2011 under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy system were not strict enough for trucks and [...]

A group of 111 opposition politicians, rights activists, aid workers and journalists went on trial Tuesday in Ethiopia on charges of treason, inciting violence and attempting to commit genocide, despite calls from human rights groups for their release. If convicted, the defendants could receive the death penalty. The trial began Tuesday with the prosecution promising [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has launched a judicial inquiry into the 1985 Air India terrorist bombing that killed 329 people, most of them Canadians, on a flight over the North Atlantic. The bombing was the largest single modern terror attack before September 11, 2001, and resulted in the longest and most expensive trial in [...]

2005 Wiretap Report, Administrative Office of the United States Courts, May 1, 2006 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency, April 28, 2006 . Excerpt: All the nuclear material declared by Iran to the Agency is accounted for. Apart fiom the small quantities previously reported to the Board, the Agency has found no other undeclared nuclear material in Iran. [...]

Projet de loi relatif à l'immigration et à l'intégration . Excerpt from the "Exposé des motifs", by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy: L'immigration demeure aujourd'hui sans rapport avec les capacités d'accueil de la France et ses besoins économiques. L'immigration à des fins professionnelles, qui représente à peine 7 % des flux doit être encouragée car [...]

Leading Tuesday's international brief, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has resigned his position, removing the last legal hurdle to the formation of a new Italian government under Prime Minister-elect Romano Prodi . Berlusconi has been asked to stay in the government by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi until a smooth transition can be arranged. Prodi [...]

The Administrative Court of Thailand said Tuesday that it will probably release a decision in mid-May on whether the country's April 2 general election should be annulled. Considering its overlapping jurisdiction with two other Thai courts, including the Constitutional Court of Thailand which agreed Monday to consider a petition to void the election , it [...]