The French Parliament has adopted a bill which will allow patients to decide to discontinue medical treatment, even if that decision will ultimately lead to their death. The bill , passed Tuesday night by the Senate and already approved by the National Assembly , also allows families to remove "non-responsive" relatives from life support machinery [...]

Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko cancelled her scheduled weekend visit to Russia Wednesday, following statements by Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov that Russia would not withdraw an international arrest warrant out against Tymoshenko. Russian prosecutors have charged Tymoshenko with criminal bribery of Russian Defense officials in her previous position as head of United Energy Systems [...]

The United States submitted a draft resolution to the UN Commission on Human Rights Tuesday criticizing the human rights record of Cuba . The US annually submits a similar resolution as part of its efforts to keep up international pressure on the communist Latin American nation. The US also urged the renewal of Christine Chanet [...]

The State Council of China released a 41-page report Wednesday claiming significant progress in the promotion and protection of human rights. The document reported over 1,500 investigations and prosecutions of government officials alleged to have violated human rights in the country in 2004. Read the ful text of the 2004 Human Rights Report . The [...]

AP is reporting that the European Parliament has approved the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the European Union in 2007. 8:32 AM ET – The European Parliament voted 497-93, with 71 abstentions, in favor of Romania's accession to the European Union and 522-70, with 69 abstentions, on Bulgaria's entry into the EU. The European [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he would not seek to amend the Russian constitution so that he could run for a third consecutive term. Russia's constitution does not allow the president to serve more than two consecutive terms but does not bar the president from seeking a third term later, and Putin indicated [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, April 13. The US Senate convenes at 9:30 AM ET today, when it will consider H.R. 1268 , the Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill. Watch a live webcast of the session. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing at [...]

United States v. Barot, et al., Southern District of New York, April 12, 2005 . Read the full text of the indictment here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Following up on a story reported on JURIST's Paper Chase earlier today, Canadian parliamentarians late Tuesday afternoon turned back an opposition amendment to government-proposed same-sex marriage legislation that would have limited marriage to union between a man and a woman. Thirty government Liberal MPs split from their party in supporting the traditionalist amendment, but members [...]

The top religious official in Saudi Arabia has banned the practice of allowing parents to force women to marry. Sheik Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik said in a statement that coercion to marry was "un-Islamic," and that fathers who forced their daughters to marry would be imprisoned. The divorce rate in Saudi Arabia is 50 percent, and forced [...]