UN Undersecretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel has been unable to break a deadlock within the Lebanese government preventing approval of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , Michel told the UN Security Council Wednesday. Michel traveled to Lebanon last month in an effort [...]
The US Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Wednesday, demanding that he turn over any e-mails he received from White House political adviser Karl Rove relating to the US Attorney firing scandal . A White House spokesman accused the Committee of trying to create a media event and suggested [...]
The Oregon Senate passed a bill Wednesday allowing same-sex couples to enter into contractual domestic partnerships with the same state benefits as married couples. The measure covers state benefits including inheritance, child custody, and hospital visitation rights, but does not affect federal benefits for married couples. The bill passed the state House last month and [...]
Jack Martin : "The White House and Congress understand that the American public is concerned about the fast-growing concentration of illegal residents in our communities, schools and worksites. But there are two very distinct approaches to dealing with the issue. One is to get tough on border and interior enforcement to deter further illegal immigration [...]
An Egyptian court Wednesday sentenced a television reporter with Al Jazeera to six months in prison for producing a film that depicts police torture. Howayda Taha was tried in absentia for her role in creating a film that Egyptian authorities say includes phony shots of Egyptian police torturing suspects. Al Jazeera responded that the footage [...]
China has officially banned the sale of human organs effective Wednesday following an April 6 decision by the State Council , according to reports by Chinese state media. Any doctors caught trafficking in organs will have their licenses revoked, any hospitals caught will be suspended from performing organ transplants for at least three years, and [...]
The Canadian Senate Wednesday passed a US-style bill to have federal elections on fixed dates every four years . An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act requires that an election be held on the third Monday of October four years after the last federal election, although the chief electoral officer has limited discretion to [...]
Several Pakistani protesters and an opposition lawmaker were injured and dozens of people were arrested Wednesday after members of a religious party tried to break through a police line to bring water to hundreds of lawyers and opposition activists gathered in front of the Supreme Court building in Islamabad to show their support for suspended [...]
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday said he would push for constitutional amendments to change Turkey's system for electing its president. Under the proposed amendments, the president would be elected by a direct vote rather than chosen by parliament. The announcement is an attempt to calm political tensions after the Turkish Constitutional Court voided [...]
Two French judges accompanied by police officers on Wednesday attempted to search France's presidential palace as part of an investigation into the 1995 death of French judge Bernard Borrel in Djibouti. The search was targeted at the African affairs department, however, the judges were not granted access to the building. A presidential spokesperson said that [...]
