A US Navy sailor pleaded guilty Monday at a court-martial hearing in Norfolk, Virginia, to espionage, desertion, failing to properly safeguard and store classified information, copying classified information, communicating classified information to a person not entitled to receive it, and stealing and destroying a government computer. Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel Weinmann , accused of [...]

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Defense lawyers for alleged terrorist Jose Padilla have indicated they will use a recent video, taken of Padilla as he was escorted by soldiers from solitary confinement to a dentist's appointment, as evidence that charges against Padilla should be dismissed due to "outrageous government conduct." The video, obtained by the New York Times, shows Padilla [...]

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Wire services are reporting that US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has resigned, effective at the end of his recess appointment. President Bush named Bolton to the position on an interim basis last year through a recess appointment that will expire when the new congressional session begins in January. A September vote in [...]

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US Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has said she plans to introduce legislation in the Senate that would prevent the US military from using cluster bombs in civilian areas by cutting off federal funding for such weapons until the Defense Department "articulate a new policy that will minimize civilian death and suffering from these weapons." In [...]

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Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan have called for the text of Kyrgyzstan's new constitution, adopted in November, to made publicly available after an unexplained three-week delay. Kyrgyz laws are usually published soon after they are passed. The new constitution generally reallocates power away from the president towards the parliament by limiting presidential power to dissolve the parliament, [...]

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A Nepali government minister indicated Sunday that the interim constitution, drafted in August , will be signed into law within a few days. The interim draft encompassing 173 articles is designed to replace the current constitution until a new representative body is elected and drafts a permanent constitution. The draft must be approved by each [...]

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A Philippines trial court Monday convicted one US Marine and acquitted three other Marines on charges of raping a 23-year-old Filipino woman at a Navy base in Manila last year. The verdict is subject to an automatic appeal. Lance Corporal Daniel Smith will serve a 40 year sentence in a Filipino prison and will pay [...]

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The government of Turkey has officially condemned an Argentinean bill that refers to the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey around the time of World War I as genocide and establishes a day of annual commemoration on April 24. Turkey has asked the Argentine government to block the draft law which last week passed the [...]

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