A committee of Japan's House of Representatives Friday approved a measure easing legal restrictions on placing Japanese military technology in space ahead of a vote of the full House of Representatives expected next week. The House of Councillors is expected to pass the bill as well. Lawmakers say that current rules, established in 1969, hamper [...]
Talks between the leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in London Friday failed to produce an agreement on a draft resolution for reinstating judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year, but party members pledged to continue negotiations. A panel convened last week pursuant to an initial [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral arguments Friday in the appeal by former USA Today reporter Toni Locy against sanctions imposed on her for refusing to disclose government sources who provided information about former US Army germ-warfare researcher Dr. Steven J. Hatfill . In a March ruling, US [...]
Microsoft announced Friday that it has filed an appeal with the European Court of First Instance in hopes that it will annul the record fine of 899 million euros ($1.3 billion). The penalty was imposed after Microsoft failed to comply with a 2004 landmark ruling requiring the software giant to share technical information with competitors [...]
European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering Thursday slammed a bid by Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya to have the country's ruling Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) legally dissolved for not respecting Turkey's strict secular principles. Poettering said it would be "absurd" for the Constitutional Court of Turkey to close the party as it had come to [...]
The US Department of Justice indicated Thursday that the Pentagon will review the "enemy combatant" status of Afghan Guantanamo detainee and US federal court litigant Haji Bismullah in light of what was referred to as "new evidence," according to SCOTUSblog. The notification came in a motion asking the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the [...]
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that a number of current Guantanamo Bay detainees would pose a new threat to the US if they were returned to their home countries. Of the 500 inmates who have been released from the detention facility, Gates said Pentagon data shows that between 5-10% of detainees "return to [...]
Myanmar's ruling junta Friday urged the country's citizens to approve the military-backed draft constitution in an upcoming Saturday national referendum that the government has refused to reschedule despite a devastating cyclone last week that may have left up to 100,000 people dead . The United Nations estimates that another 1.5 million people have been "severely [...]
The Bolivian National Congress voted Thursday to hold a national referendum on President Evo Morales Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and nine regional governors within the next 90 days. The officials must receive more than 53.74% percent of the vote to keep their positions. Morales is the first indigenous president of Bolivia, and began the [...]
The world's five major nuclear powers – Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US – cited Iran's uranium enrichment program as a major threat to the goals of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in a joint statement issued Thursday at the end of a two-week meeting of 106 NPT member nations. The five urged Iran, [...]
