Pope Benedict XVI was officially installed as the 265th head of the Catholic Church on Sunday, receiving the symbolic pallium and the Ring of the Fisherman , and celebrating...

Syria, listed by the US since 1979 as a state sponsor of terrorism, has signed on to a UN treaty designed to block funding of terrorist activities, according to a UN official speaking Sunday. Syria becomes the...

Four current leaders and a former European Commission president have this weekend urged French voters to adopt the new European constitution in a May 29 referendum, warning that rejection could have dire...

Days after being removed from power by Congress, Ecuador's former president Lucio Gutierrez fled the country aboard a Brazilian air force plane on Sunday. Brazil granted Gutierrez political asylum Thursday; new Ecuadorian...

Muhammad v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Supreme Court, Justice Lemons, April 22, 2005 . Excerpt:If society's ultimate penalty should be reserved for the most heinous offenses, accompanied by proof of vileness...

Human Rights Watch issued a report Saturday calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the roles of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA director George Tenet in connection with US mistreatment and torture of...

Connecticut Superior Court judge Patrick J. Clifford ruled Friday that convicted serial killer Michael Ross is mentally competent to waive his death penalty appeals. Ross, who was convicted of raping and killing eight woman...

Ousted Ecuador president Lucio Gutierrez said Friday that his removal from office Wednesday by the Ecuadorian Congress violated the country's constitution and that, contrary to its contention, he never abandoned his post....

US Department of Health and Human Services head Mike Leavitt announced Friday that the agency will actively enforce the little-used Born-Alive Infant Protection Act . President Bush signed the bill into law in 2002 requiring health...

In an effort to implement a peace deal between Khartoum and southern rebels that formally ended a 21-year civil war, Sudan has formed a committee to draft an interim constitution. The constitution would clear the...