The Turkish government indicted 33 people Friday on charges of attempting to overthrow the government and establish military rule. The accused, some of whom include high-ranking military officials , are alleged to have plotted with a secret group called Ergenekon to assassinate prominent members of Turkey's Christian and Jewish minority groups, blame Islamic terrorists for [...]
Johanna Higgins : "Minister Ahern has stated in the past, regarding the constitutional provision on blasphemy: "As a republican, my personal position is that Church and State should be separate. But I do not have the luxury of ignoring our Constitution." This then begs the question on what philosophy of law does Minister Ahern seek [...]
Iranian authorites jailed a reform movement leader after an appeals court upheld a one-year-sentence for spreading propaganda against the Islamic republic, according to an opposition website Friday. Hossein Marashi was a leading supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi who opposed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the disputed presidential election last June. Marashi was an opposition party spokesman [...]
Philippine lawyers and activists protested Friday in front of the Supreme Court in Manila following Wednesday's ruling , which held that the constitution does not prevent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from replacing retiring Chief Justice Reynato Puno prior to the May presidential elections. Among the activists were Philippine lawyers who used black candles to burn photos [...]
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced a final rule restricting tobacco sales and promotions directed at youth. The Regulations Restricting the Sale and Distribution of Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco to Protect Children and Adolescents are a set of broad regulations "designed to significantly curb access to and the appeal of cigarettes [...]
Retired US Marine Corps General John Sheehan testified before the US Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Thursday that he believes the Dutch military's inclusion of openly gay soldiers is partially responsible for the severity of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian civil war . Sheehan, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, made the [...]
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on Friday dismissed allegations of election fraud from a member of the European Parliament . After the March 7 parliamentary elections , head of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq, Struan Stevenson , reported that he had received a "flood" of complaints about election fraud. He said [...]
Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday unveiled their proposal for comprehensive immigration reform. The plan entails four principal tenets: improving border security, creating a system through which temporary workers would be admitted, introducing biometric identification cards, and instituting a process to legalize illegal immigrants currently residing within the US. Undocumented immigrants [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday denied a petition by former attorney general John Ashcroft to reconsider its decision that Ashcroft is not entitled to absolute and qualified immunity in an unlawful detention case. By declining to rehear its previous ruling , the court is allowing the lawsuit by US [...]
US citizen and Chicago resident David Headley pleaded guilty to 12 counts of federal terrorism Thursday, including charges related to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and an alleged plot against the Danish creator and publishers of controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The government had accused Headley of conducting surveillance in preparation for the Mumbai [...]
