Washington is in line to become the second US state to permit physician-assisted suicide after voters there Tuesday supported Initiative Measure 1000 , which would allow terminally ill, legally competent adults to obtain lethal prescriptions without exposing themselves, their physicians or others to criminal penalties. The measure is modeled on neighboring Oregon's Death with Dignity [...]

A constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage appeared to pass in California with most of the vote counted Wednesday, while voters in Arizona and Florida Tuesday approved similar measures. In California, Proposition 8 , which was placed on the ballot by citizen initiative, amends the state constitution to provide that "nly marriage between a man [...]

Voters in two US states with large immigrant populations on Tuesday defeated ballot measures dealing with illegal immigrants , according to unofficial results. In Arizona, an initiative would have revoked the business licenses of employers that knowingly hire illegal immigrants and would have strengthened penalties for identity theft. As of 3 PM EST Wednesday, the [...]

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced former Japanese administrative vice defense minister Takemasa Moriya to two and a half years in prison for accepting bribes and committing perjury. In April, Moriya pleaded guilty to accepting approximately $126,000 worth of illegal benefits from military contractor Yamada Corporation , and to giving false testimony to conceal [...]

A ballot measure to prohibit governmental agencies from discriminating or granting preferences on the basis of race and sex appeared to win approval from Nebraska voters Tuesday, while the outcome of a similar proposal in Colorado remained unclear midday Wednesday. In Nebraska, Initiated Measure 424 would amend the state constitution to prohibit the state and [...]

Voters in California and South Dakota Tuesday rejected ballot measures that would restrict access to abortion , In California, Proposition 4 would have amended the state constitution to require that a physician notify a parent or legal guardian of an unemancipated minor who has sought an abortion and wait 48 hours before performing the procedure. [...]

Israeli deputy permanent representative to the UN Daniel Carmon on Tuesday accused the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) of "targeting Israel in an obsessive and discriminatory fashion" and "fail to uphold the basic standards of human rights in an impartial, universal, non-selective, and objective manner." Addressing a plenary session of the UN General Assembly following [...]

A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday suspended its review of Guantanamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed Basardh's status as an "enemy combatant," saying it may lack jurisdiction over the case. Basardh had petitioned the court to review a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) determination that he could be [...]

Several members of the anti-drug trafficking force of Mexican President Felipe Calderon , including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino Terrazo , were killed Tuesday when their airplane crashed in Mexico City. Former chief drug crimes prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, four Interior Secretariat employees, and three crew members were also killed as the plane crashed [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Tuesday dismissed a suit filed by three Hispanic residents of the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch to change the city council election voting system from at-large to district-based, a shift they say would result in more attention to Hispanic interests on [...]