The US Senate voted 71-26 Wednesday to ratify the so-called New START treaty between Russia and the US. The new START treaty replaces the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I treaty) , with Russia and the US each pledging to reduce their countries’ nuclear warheads by about 30 percent. Under the terms of the [...]
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The US Senate and the House of Representatives on Wednesday gave final approval to a defense spending bill that includes a provision preventing Guantanamo Bay detainees from being transferred to the US for trial. The legislation would block Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other accused 9/11 conspirators from being tried in a US civilian court. [...]
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a bill to repeal the military’s controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (DADT) . The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was approved in the Senate Saturday after being passed by the House of Representatives last week. At the signing ceremony, Obama said : [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday ordered the US government to pay more than $2.5 million in damages and attorney’s fees to an Islamic charity for illegally wiretapping its conversations without a warrant. Judge Vaughn Walker found in March that the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless [...]
A UK High Court on Tuesday denied an appeal from Iraqi citizens to open a single public inquiry into allegations of abuse by members of the British Armed Forces. The Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) , the group representing a group of more than140 Iraqis, appealed to the High Court after Defence Secretary Liam Fox refused [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Tuesday upheld the convictions of former Illinois governor George Ryan , refusing his request for early release. In September, Ryan asked Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer to vacate his prison sentence , following a recent US Supreme Court decision. In June, the Supreme [...]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 Tuesday in favor of new rules to allow the government to regulate Internet traffic. The so-called net neutrality rules, proposed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski earlier this month, would prevent Internet providers from selectively blocking web access. The regulations would require transparency of Internet broadband networks to help [...]
Sudan’s Constitutional Court on Monday rejected a suit that could have postponed next month’s scheduled referendum on independence for southern Sudan but chose not to dismiss two similar suits. According to a spokesperson for the South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), the court ordered the group to respond to one of the suits by December 26. [...]
Iranian prosecutors have charged First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi with embezzling money, judiciary spokesperson Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi announced Monday. The spokesperson said he expects the case to go to trial . Conservative lawmakers say they have strong evidence linking Rahimi with corruption. Rahimi has previously denied lawmakers’ corruption accusations and threatened to sue [...]
Toyota Motor Corporation settled US federal investigations on Tuesday by agreeing to pay a record $32.4 million in extra fines for product defects and poor handling of a recall. The fines stem from two investigations conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) . The first, a fine of $16.375 million, concerned nearly five [...]
