The United States observed a federal holiday Monday in honor of slain civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , remembered for his leadership of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Courts, government offices, and many public universities were closed as tributes to King were held throughout the country. Monday's commemoration [...]

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The House of Representatives in Nepal adopted the country's draft interim constitution Monday following its approval by the Nepalese cabinet on Sunday. The interim constitution simultaneously provides for the dissolution of the current House of Representatives and the creation of an interim parliament which will include twenty-five percent of seats held by former Maoist insurgents. [...]

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New rules intended to combat illegal immigration went into force in Russia Monday. The rules set harsher penalties for businesses that employ illegal migrants, restrict border crossings, amend the Criminal Code, limit the duration of visas distributed to certain nationalities, and increase reporting requirements to the Russian Federal Migration Service for employers. Meanwhile, officials have [...]

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A Moroccan editor and journalist were both convicted Monday of insulting the Islamic religion in a 10-page article about religious jokes published in a Moroccan newspaper in early December. Journalist Sanaa al-Aji and Driss Ksikes, editor of Nichane weekly, were given suspended sentences of three years, fined $9,280 each, and are prohibited from engaging in [...]

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Former Saddam-era Revolutionary Court judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar and former Iraqi intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti , sentenced to death with Saddam Hussein in November in connection with crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982, were executed before dawn Monday at an Iraqi military facility in Baghdad. As shown by official [...]

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Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev approved several new amendments to the country's new constitution Monday, returning key powers to the presidency, including the right to appoint cabinet officials. The new constitutional amendments pushed through parliament at his urging contradict the aims of a compromise reached in November which led to the adoption of a new constitution [...]

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Giovanni Di Stefano : "On the 3rd January 2007 I saw both Judge Al Bandar and Barzan Al Tikriti at Camp Cropper. On the 5th January 2007 I duly presented to the Iraqi High Tribunal a motion in accordance with para. 266 of the Law on Criminal Proceedings With Amendments Number 23 of 1971 which [...]

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Germany will introduce draft legislation tightening anti-corruption law, according to a Der Spiegel report to be published Monday. The move comes on the heels of scandals at Volkswagen AG and Siemens AG and is intended to increase public prosecutors' power to investigate corruption of a broader range of implicated employees. The law would allow employees [...]

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