Former Afghan mujahideen Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf said Wednesday that he supported an inquiry into abuses committed by fighters during the civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, but he rejected calls...

AP is reporting that the Massachusetts state legislature has rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have banned gay marriage but allowed civil unions. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage when the...

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet can stand trial for an alleged campaign of abduction and murder of political opponents during his leadership, Chile's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The ruling was the third by the...

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) , its coalition partner the New Komeito Party and its largest opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan , agreed Wednesday to establish a...

AP is reporting that a federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools with the language "under God" is unconstitutional. The judge granted legal standing to...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a British ban on parent and children-in-law marriages violated rights guaranteed by Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights . A man...

Thousands of demonstrators continued to pour into Kathmandu Wednesday to protest the totalitarian rule of King Gyanendra . Nepali police detained hundreds of pro-democracy activists Tuesday in the capitol city, including a former prime minister, for...

Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to sign the UN Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism , which opened for signatures Wednesday at the UN's 2005 World Summit ....

Addressing the opening session of the UN's 2005 World Summit Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan , US President George Bush and other world leaders appealed for global action to prevent conflict, protect human rights and suppress...

The Bush administration Tuesday expressed disapproval of a measure aimed at regulating trade negotiations, and discouraged Senate members from adopting it. The measure, offered as an amendment to the annual appropriations bill for the Departments of State, Commerce and...