A spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Sunday that Iraq's constitutional committee may seek more time to work on the draft constitution if they cannot meet Monday's deadline to submit the document to the country's parliament. Iraqi leaders are already working under an extended deadline after they missed the original August 15 date. [...]
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman announced Saturday that the department would not modify its policy of using deadly force against suspected terrorists. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is conducting a review of police conduct after officers shot and killed an innocent man they mistakenly suspected of involvement in the July 21 subway bombings in London . [...]
Ashraf Qazi, special representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, asked Saturday that Iraq reconsider its decision to resume carrying out executions, three days after the Iraqi government approved three death sentences . The US-led occupation placed a moratorium on capital punishment after removing former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003; after the end of formal occupation, [...]
Kurdish officials discussed dropping their demand for a constitutional right to secede Saturday, as negotiations continued on the drafting of the Iraqi constitution . Kurds have faced opposition to their demand for self-determination from various Sunni groups associated with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Dawa Party and cleric Muqtada al-Sadr . This opposition has been instrumental [...]
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials announced Friday that the rule allowing truckers to stay behind the wheel for 11 hours straight will not be changed, despite a federal appeals court decision overturning the rule. Rather, the hours of service regulations now require truckers taking a break in a sleeper berth to spend at least [...]
A Chilean appeals court denied a motion to dismiss tax charges against the wife and son of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet Friday. Chilean prosecutors filed charges against Pinochet's relatives last week, alleging they were complicit in hiding millions of dollars in over 100 accounts, including some in the US . The Santiago Appeals Court [...]
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has admitted that Nigerian police forces have engaged in killings of suspects and innocent civilians, as well as torture and other civil rights violations. Obasanjo's admission comes only weeks after Nigerian officials denied allegations of torture made in a new report by Human Rights Watch . Obasanjo pledged swift action against [...]
A Texas jury on Friday awarded a $253.4 million verdict in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the widow of a man who suffered cardiac arrest after using the prescription osteoarthritis drug Vioxx . Merck , the maker of Vioxx, has issued a statement that they were "disappointed" and planned to appeal the decision. Vioxx [...]
John Allen Muhammad , who has been convicted of murder in Virginia for one of the ten Washington DC area sniper killings, was moved Friday from Virginia's death row to Maryland in order to face trial for six other deaths in the 2002 killing spree. Muhammad also faces the death penalty in Maryland. His accomplice, [...]
A survey conducted by Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute found that 72% of 1,601 New York residents polled supported the random bag searches being conducted on city subways and buses following the terrorist attacks in London . While 55% said government security measures should not violate basic civil rights, 60% of Republicans said that the government [...]
