A UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry has recommended that Israel be made to compensate Lebanon for damages the Israeli military inflicted during the 33-day conflict in the Middle East . Specifically, the panel recommended that the Council create "a commission competent to examine individual claims" of citizens and "examine issues of reparations." The [...]

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin has asked the FCC general counsel to consider whether one commissioner with a potential conflict of interest may be allowed to consider a proposed $82.2 billion merger of BellSouth and AT&T . The merger has been delayed three times as the proposal has failed to gain approval from [...]

The lawsuit brought against the New Hampshire Republican State Committee for the jamming of Democratic phone lines in the 2002 Senate race has been settled, according to a statement Friday from GOP state Committee Chairman Wayne Semprini. The New Hampshire Democratic Party filed civil suit for compensation for the 800 hang-up phone calls that were [...]

Republicans in the US House of Representatives agreed Friday to vote on a compromise offshore drilling bill on Tuesday under special rules that limit amendments and generally speed up proceedings, but require a two-thirds majority for approval. If passed, the bill would allow oil and gas drilling in about 8.3 million acres of federal waters [...]

Argentinean judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral declared former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight other Iranian officials fugitives from justice on Friday. The nine failed to respond to arrest warrants issued in Argentina in November for their alleged roles the AMIA Jewish cultural center bombing that killed 85 people and wounded over 200 more in [...]

An Italian appeals court Friday denied the request of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to remove the judge presiding over his tax fraud trial. Berlusconi and co-defendant David Mills had asked that Judge Edoardo d'Avossa be removed from the current trial, citing d'Avossa's involvement with other Berlusconi trials. The Milan appeals court rejected the [...]

Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon was formally sworn in as President of Mexico in a hasty ceremony before the Mexican Congress Friday after a midnight swearing in by outgoing President Vicente Fox several hours earlier. Officials previously declared Calderon the winner of Mexico's July 2 presidential election by a margin of 0.6 percent, sparking protest and [...]

The Iraqi Interior Ministry has announced that it is forming a specialized unit to monitor news coverage. A ministry spokesman told AP the unit was designed to correct “fabricated and false news” that he claims gives the Iraqi people the wrong idea that the situation is worse than it actually is. The Ministry further threatened [...]

The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in three cases Friday, most notably Morse v. Frederick (06-278) , which addresses whether a school board had the right to suspend a then-high school senior for holding a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" away from school property while the Olympic torch made its way through Juneau, [...]

Four of six Dutch terror suspects on trial for planning attacks against Dutch politicians and government facilities were found guilty in Amsterdam Friday. The convicted include 20-year-old Samir Azzouz , who was sentenced to a prison term of eight years for his central role in the plot and the making of a suicide-bomber video. Defendants [...]