Rogelio Pfirter , director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has urged North Korea and several Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and destroy their weapon stockpiles. Speaking to the UN General Assembly Friday, Pfirter said that all nations must join the [...]
The Intermediate People's Court in the city of Shaoyang has released a Chinese journalist, Yang Xiaoqing, on bail after he served only seven months of his one-year sentence , Yang's wife said Saturday. The court exempted Yang from serving the remainder of his sentence, but did not overturn his conviction. Yang was arrested in January [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona can enforce a new law requiring voters to show government-issued ID cards at the polls for the November elections, reversing a decision rendered earlier this month by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit . In a per curiam opinion, the court said: The election [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) , does not have authority to regulate how certain games, including blackjack and slot machines, are run on Indian casinos. The dispute arose in 2001, when the NIGC attempted to audit an Arizona casino run by [...]
US District Judge Lewis Babcock upheld Colorado's ban on smoking in indoor public places Friday, despite allegations that it discriminates in favor of casinos at the expense of bar owners. Babcock dismissed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act , which since July 1 has banned smoking indoors in public, [...]
US Marine Pfc. John J. Jodka will plead guilty in connection with the April 26 death of Iraqi civilian Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania , according to Jodka's lawyer speaking Friday. The guilty plea, expected to be entered on Thursday, is to charges of assault and obstruction of justice, reduced from the original charges of [...]
Thomas Nash : "The increasing evidence of humanitarian harm from cluster munitions used during the recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the latest example of a consistent pattern of civilian suffering documented over the last 40 years. Whether it has been the goverment of Sudan against armed factions in south Sudan, Ethiopian use against [...]
Ted Mayer : "Merck & Co., Inc. is pleased that the District Court of Berlin, Germany, has rejected two VIOXX claims. In the first case, a 60-year old woman from Berlin claimed that VIOXX caused her cardiac arrhythmia. The second case involved the claim of a 61-year-old man from Berlin who sued the company over [...]
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday decried any potential action by the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran for continuing to enrich uranium past a August 31 deadline imposed by Security Council Resolution 1696 , saying such action would be "illegitimate." UK Ambassador to the UN Emyr Jones Parry reportedly said the full council [...]
The Tunisian government has launched a new campaign against the public wearing of hijabs , the headscarves worn by many Muslim women in the predominantly Islamic state north African state. Police have begun stopping Muslim women wearing the hijab on the street, asking them to remove it, and to sign an affidavit promising to never [...]
