The US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved a bill Wednesday to allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act , introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and approved 13-8 by the committee, would require the FDA to limit tobacco advertising, enforce warning [...]
Military doctors participating in the force-feeding of hunger-striking detainees at Guantanamo Bay are violating medical ethics, according to commentary published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) . The three authors – Sondra S. Crosby, MD, Caroline M. Apovian, MD, Michael A. Grodin, MD – wrote that military doctors should not force [...]
Getty Museum Director Dr. Michael Brand and the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities Francesco Rutelli Wednesday announced an agreement to return 40 allegedly looted Italian artifacts to Italy over the next several months. They also announced that Italy and the Getty Museum have agreed to a "broad cultural collaboration that will include loans [...]
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Wednesday that Democrats are willing to expand government surveillance over foreign communications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) , but disagree with the White House over spending and "the involvement of the attorney general." The proposal was made last week [...]
Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Khek Iev , also known as Duch, is willing to testify against other members of the Khmer Rouge, according to information released Wednesday by the tribunal that indicted Duch earlier in the week. Included in Duch's detention order is Duch's admission that he oversaw the S-21 prison and his [...]
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty Wednesday indicated that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation of Dr. Mohammad Haneef was "far from complete," adding that the AFP may still submit a new brief of evidence against Haneef to prosecutors. Keelty's comments followed the Tuesday release of "secret information" by Immigration and Citizenship Minister Kevin Andrews [...]
The Iraqi Accordance Front , the largest Sunni parliamentary bloc, announced Wednesday that it was leaving the government and that the party's six Cabinet members would be turning in their resignations. The move is said to be a response to the failure of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to respond to demands made by the [...]
Lawyers representing Jose Padilla indicated Tuesday that they are not expecting to present a defense case, telling presiding US District Judge Marcia Cooke that the defense will not call any witnesses. Jurors have been hearing the testimony from six witnesses called by lawyers representing Padilla's co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi since federal [...]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that the recently passed US House of Representatives resolution calling for a formal apology from Japan for forcing Asian women to become "comfort women" during World War II is "regrettable." Abe said that Japan has already taken steps to atone for what happened during the war, as leaders [...]
Two federal district judges separately rejected a bid by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to appeal rulings ordering the federal supervision of California's overcrowded prison system Tuesday, ruling that while California may appeal specific orders made by a special three-judge panel, the state cannot appeal the original rulings establishing the panel. Schwarzenegger had argued that the [...]
