Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Wednesday signed a reform to the Mexican Constitution that eliminates the president’s ability to use a pocket veto to prevent the passage of a bill. Originally, the president could kill the legislation by ignoring it for 30 days. The constitutional reform now requires the president to take action on a [...]

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The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on Wednesday unsealed the indictment against four individuals accused of assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri . The pre-trial judge issued a decision confirming the indictment, as well as an order lifting confidentiality . A sealed indictment was handed down in January, and arrest warrants were issued [...]

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Judges for the International Criminal Court (ICC) have postponed the opening of the confirmation of charges hearing against accused war criminal Callixte Mbarushimana , originally set for Wednesday, until September 16. Mbarushimana, former leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) , is accused of committing war crimes in the Democratic Republic [...]

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Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko testified against his former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday in her ongoing trial for charges of corruption. The prosecution alleges that Tymoshenko orchestrated a deal where Ukraine’s national gas company would pay Russia excessively high prices for gas. Although Yushchenko and Tymoshenko were allies in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Yushchenko [...]

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Kansas law that prohibits insurance companies from including coverage for abortion in their comprehensive plans. The law prohibits comprehensive insurance plans from covering any abortion other than to save a woman’s life but allows companies to offer a separate rider to cover abortions [...]

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The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Wednesday that it is considering conducting two trials for former Serbian general and alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic : one for his conduct during the Srebrenica massacre , where approximately 8,000 people were killed, and one for all of his other charges during the [...]

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A group of four tobacco companies sued the US government Tuesday claiming that new cigarette labeling regulations violate their First Amendment rights. The suit, filed against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US District Court for the District of Columbia , seeks an injunction against the new regulations, which the companies claim unconstitutionally [...]

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HTC filed three new patent complaints against Apple on Tuesday through the US International Trade Commission (USITC) , the latest in a series of suits filed back and forth between the two companies. Patents 7,765,414; 7,672,219 and 7,417,944 are at issue, all dealing with various functions of wireless communications systems. Spokespersons for both companies suggested [...]

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