French President Jacques Chirac , German Chancellor Angela Merkel , and other conservative European politicians have been meeting in private to discuss plans to revive the European Constitution , according to an article in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. The magazine reports that the politicians are working to revise the first two chapters of the [...]

An expert for Europe's largest security organization said Monday that prisoners held at the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay are treated better than inmates in Belgian jails, after he returned from a visit to the prison last week. Alain Grignard , superintendent of the Belgian Federal Police, went to Guantanamo as part of a [...]

Opening arguments began Monday in the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui with government prosecutors claiming the defendant's lies to the FBI when he was arrested in August 2001 could have prevented the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks . Court-appointed defense attorneys for Moussaoui argued instead that he had no knowledge of the attacks, backing his contentions [...]

The judge who will sentence Jack Abramoff has refused a joint motion by the defense and prosecution to delay for months the hearing that will determine the former Republican lobbyist's prison term. Although US District Judge Paul C. Huck did agree to push back the sentencing two weeks, from March 16 to March 29, he [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the boundaries of the 1995 Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) in a set of cases that will further specify when and how prisoners can bring lawsuits that contest the conditions of prisons. The high court granted to certiorari in Jones v. Bock , 05-7058, and Williams [...]

The UK House of Lords dealt another major legislative setback to the anti-terrorism policies of the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair Monday by voting down for a second time a bill designed to establish a UK national ID card system. The Identity Cards Bill , a previous version of which failed in the Lords [...]

The Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council on Monday voted to strip Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of powers given him last month by the lame-duck parliament dominated by Abbas' Fatah party . Among those was the authority to appoint a constitutional court empowered to cancel any law approved by the newly-elected Hamas-led assembly considered contrary to [...]

United Arab Emirates state-owned company Dubai Ports World Monday received the go-ahead to take over British shipping company P&O , after the UK's Court of Appeal declined to hear an appeal from Miami-based Eller & Co. . The three judge panel's unanimous refusal to hear an appeal affirms a lower court's holding that the $6.8 [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday signed into law new anti-terrorism legislation giving the Russian police and military broad authority to tap telephone conversations and control electronic communications in the vicinity of counter-terror operations, shoot down hijacked planes threatening public places or strategic facilities, and deal with the aftermath of terrorist attacks. The legislation passed the [...]

AP is reporting that South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds has signed legislation that will ban most abortions in the state, excluding only those necessary to save a woman's life. Under the bill , approved by the state legislature last month, doctors who perform abortions will face up to five years in jail. The bill was [...]