The French Senate has approved a slightly amended version of a new anti-terror law providing for increased public video surveillance, more access by authorities to communications records and passenger information, and new police powers to stop vehicles. The legislation introduced by hardline French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy passed Thursday by a vote of 203-122, with [...]

The British government has announced that it will appeal a High Court ruling earlier this week that found Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks eligible for British citizenship. Hicks, whose mother is British and who lived in London for a time as a boy, sought British citizenship in hopes that the British government would be willing [...]

The trial of Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk for slander against the state was adjourned Friday until February 7, 2006 to give Turkey's Justice Ministry time to decide if the case is in line with judicial procedures after a prosecutorial request. Under Turkish law, individual rights can be restricted to preserve the "integrity of the state" [...]

Austria Thursday mailed notifications to the first survivors of the Holocaust eligible for payments in its 2001 General Settlement Fund which compensates victims robbed of businesses, property, bank accounts and insurance policies under the Nazis. So far, 100 of the 19, 300 survivors who have applied for restitution have been notified . The letters detail [...]

Serge Brammertz , a Belgian prosecutor who is currently the deputy prosecutor for the International Criminal Court at The Hague, appears set to replace German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis as head of the UN inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri , according to UN officials and Lebanese press reports. Although the [...]

An Australian court hearing a bail application by Australian Muslims detained in a major November anti-terror sweep was told by prosecutors Friday that two of the suspects had discussed assassinating Australian Prime Minister John Howard, killing police and attacking families at soccer matches. The 18 suspects arrested in raids in Sydney and Melbourne are charged [...]

A 2002 Presidential order issued in the aftermath of 9/11 authorized the US National Security Agency (NSA) to secretly monitor the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of possibly thousands of US residents without warrants over the past three years, according to officials quoted in an extensive New York Times report Friday. The purpose [...]

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke said Thursday that he was dropping a contentious provision in proposed new UK anti-terrorism legislation introduced in the wake of the July London bombings that would have permited authorities to close British mosques suspected of connections with extremists. The provision was withdrawn after opposition from British Muslim groups and other [...]

The UN Security Council late Thursday unanimously approved a six-month extension of the probe into the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri just before the mandate of the investigatory commission currently headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis was set to expire. Mehlis submitted his latest report to the UN Security Council Tuesday, [...]

The European Parliament agreed Thursday to open an investigation into allegations that the CIA illegally operated secret jails in Romania and Poland and covertly flew detainees through Italy, Germany and Poland. Lawmakers approved the resolution to begin an investigation by an overwhelming majority of 359-127, with 32 abstentions. The EU’s ruling treaties say that any [...]