The first voters will cast their ballots Monday in New Orleans municipal elections under Louisiana's displaced voters plan , after a federal judge refused to delay elections late last month. Hurricane Katrina evacuees who are currently residing outside Louisiana will return by bus to cast early votes at ten polling stations for displaced residents around [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Ron Dudai of the SOAS School of Law at the University of London (UK) says that a recent ruling by Israel's Supreme Court constitutes an important judicial recognition that giving discretion to state security services in fighting terrorism – in Israel, the US, or elsewhere – invites overreaching, abuse, and violations of [...]

Transcript of a TV address on the CPE (contrat premiere embauche) by French Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin, April 10, 2006 . Text: Depuis plusieurs semaines, notre pays connaît l'agitation. Les désordres dans les universités et les lycées menacent d'affecter la bonne organisation des examens de fin d'année. Les manifestations de voie publique mettent en [...]

French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin said in separate statements Monday in Paris following a morning meeting that the First Employment Contract (contrat premiere embauche, CPE) established in a recent law would be "replaced" with other measures designed to help young people find work. The apparent cave-in follows weeks of controversy [...]

Changes to the controversial French labor law establishing the First Employment Contract (contrat premiere embauche, CPE) are expected to be announced Monday after an early-morning meeting between President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin . Villepin's office says he will make a speech on the law at 10:30 AM Paris time. Chirac signed [...]

German officials Sunday announced the arrest in Mannheim of Ignace Murwanashyaka , leader of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) . While the arrest was based on immigration violations, Murwanashyaka could face deportation or extradition to Rwanda for alleged war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide of Tutsis. Rwanda plans to formally seek his [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) Sunday urged President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to go public about their roles in disclosure of classified information in the CIA leak case . Specter was interviewed on Fox News Sunday in the wake of a government court filing last week that disclosed grand [...]

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's personal envoy on human rights has told the Observer newspaper in an interview published Sunday that some Iraqis who have been detained by Coalition forces since the start of the war in Iraq have disappeared into what she described as a "black hole" and that there is no record of [...]

The Israeli Justice Ministry said Sunday that Israel will declare Prime Minister Ariel Sharon officially incapacitated on Tuesday. Sharon has been in a coma since suffering a massive stroke in early January. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert , who has been filling in since January and was elected to the post on March 28, is [...]

Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu Sunday despite a Saturday-imposed curfew and threats from the government to shoot violators on sight. Scuffles with police, one death, and numerous injuries were reported, as were protests in other cities. The protests are part of a general strike against direct rule [...]