The Greek parliament on Tuesday ratified the European constitution , making it the fifth EU nation to sign off on the document. Approval was widely expected by Greece, with 268 lawmakers voting for the treaty and only 17 opposing it. Several opposition legislators called for a referendum on the treaty. Such a process is possible [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday refused to rehear a case in which it held two reporters in contempt for refusing to reveal confidential sources for an investigation into whether a Bush administration official leaked the name of a covert CIA operative. In the case, New York Times [...]

A New York man was arrested on Tuesday after threatening to kill a federal judge and bomb his courthouse. Wazir Khan, 20, was charged with threatening to kill an individual and destroy the Brooklyn federal courthouse, according to federal prosecutors. If convicted, Khan faces up to 10 years a fine of $250,000 on each of [...]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday that a proposed Senate rule change to ban filibusters would only apply to the process of confirming judicial nominees , and would not extend into other legislative issues. Fifty votes are needed to approve a rules change that would end Democrats' ability to block President Bush's judicial nominees. [...]

The Delaware Supreme Court Tuesday cleared Oracle Corp.'s top two executives of allegations of insider trading. In a brief two-paragraph opinion , the three-judge Supreme Court panel affirmed without commentary a 2004 Court of Chancery ruling finding that CEO Lawrence J. Ellison and Chairman Jeffrey O. Henley did not breach their duty of loyalty to [...]

Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, the Wall Street Journal is reporting Cablevision Systems Corp. has raised its bid for Adelphia Communications Inc. to $17.1 billion. The move may threaten the $18 billion competing offer from Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp . It is not clear how seriously Adelphia or the creditor's committee [...]

Army investigative documents released Monday disclosed the existence of "wish lists" of harsh interrogation techniques that intelligence officials hoped to use on Iraqi detainees. The techniques, cited in various e-mails in August 2003 between interrogators and army officials, included low-voltage electrocution, blows with phone books and using dogs and snakes. The correspondence was used in [...]

Following what appeared to be a puff of white smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel a few minutes ago, bells are now ringing at the Vatican indicating that Roman Catholic cardinals have elected a new pope, as yet unidentified. Observers had suggested that an election in the first days of balloting in the conclave could [...]

A former Argentine naval officer was convicted Tuesday of crimes against humanity by a Spanish court and sentenced to 640 years in prison. Adolfo Scilingo was found guilty of being aboard planes from which 30 people were thrown to their deaths during Argentina's military rule from 1976 to 1983. The trial was the first in [...]

Seventeen Afghan men held at Guantanamo Bay arrived in Afghanistan Tuesday and were being turned over to local officials, the Defense Department announced . The 17 Afghans and one detainee from Turkey all had their enemy combatant status lifted by Combatant Status Review Tribunals which concluded they had been improperly classified. A senior Afghan official [...]