US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has criticized a bipartisan amendment to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 that seeks to loosen the worker verification program by requiring employers to verify only the immigration status of new job applicants. In a letter sent late Tuesday to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen. Arlen Spector [...]
A German Presidency policy paper proposing that European Union nations abandon talks on a constitutional treaty circulated Wednesday, just prior to Thursday's summit meeting of European Council in Brussels. Last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel , the summit chair, expressed doubts that the meeting would see any progress beyond a road map to an eventual [...]
The Colombian Senate voted 34-29 against landmark gay rights legislation Tuesday. The bill, endorsed by President Alvaro Uribe , was approved by the lower house 62-43 last week. Many of the 102 Senators were not present Tuesday for what was expected to be a routine bloc vote, but a conservative call for a floor vote [...]
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday moved to ease accounting procedures required for foreign companies trading on US exchanges. The SEC commissioners voted 5-0 to amend federal regulations to accept financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) , as published by the International Accounting Standards Board , rather than [...]
The New York State Assembly Tuesday passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage following three hours of often emotional debate. The bill was proposed in April by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer , and was sponsored in the Assembly by gay Assemblymember Daniel O'Donnell , brother of talk show host Rosie O'Donnell. Assemblymember O'Donnell, who [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU/SC) brought a federal class action lawsuit against the US Tuesday on behalf of two immigrants who said they were forcibly drugged with sedatives during deportation proceedings. The ACLU/SC began an investigation into the alleged incidents soon after the allegations were made. In one incident from December [...]
US President George W. Bush Wednesday followed through on his promised veto of a Democrat-backed bill that would have relaxed funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research . The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, sent by Congress to the White House earlier this month , would have allowed federal funding for research using [...]
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged EU member states to compromise to resolve key differences in negotiations over the proposed constitutional treaty during a press conference Tuesday, reiterating that the EU must continue to demonstrate pragmatism, flexibility, and unity to iron out its differences. He also asked state leaders to refrain from using the [...]
The US House of Representatives Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act by 422-2 . The bill would establish an Unsolved Crimes Section within the civil rights divisions of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation , funded by an allocation of $10 million per year over the [...]
The Libyan Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will rule on the appeal of six foreign medics in three weeks. The five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor were convicted last year of knowingly infecting over 400 Libyan patients with the HIV virus. Analysts say that the court, which heard the medics' appeal this week, is [...]
