Opposition members of parliament in Burundi sought protection from the UN Thursday, alleging that they have been targeted for assassination by the Burundi government. The legislators sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , saying they have received death threats backed by the government and alleging that government authorities have a list of 350 [...]

A federal judge Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by members of the US military against the US Department of Defense (DOD) that sought to make an anthrax vaccine optional rather than mandatory. The military personnel had challenged a finding by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the vaccine was safe, but Judge Rosemary Collyer [...]

Serbian police filed criminal charges Friday against 80 people allegedly involved in attacks on the US and other embassies in Belgrade during protests last week over US support of independence for Kosovo . The protesters were charged with hooliganism, theft and resisting arrest, charges which could carry sentences of four to six years in prison. [...]

The Canadian military has resumed the transfer of Afghan detainees to Afghan authorities, Canadian military officials said Friday. The Canadian government ceased transferring Afghan detainees to Afghan custody in November after Canadian monitors in Afghanistan discovered evidence of torture, but a military spokesman said Friday that both the Canadian military and officials in Kandahar believe [...]

The National Congress of Bolivia narrowly approved a national referendum on a new constitution Thursday after members of the Bolivian Constitutional Assembly approved the draft constitution in December. The new constitution, supported by Bolivian President Evo Morales , would give the president more power over natural resources, collapse Bolivia's legislature into one body, and allow [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday upheld a district court ruling denying a bid by Canadian-born financier and former media mogul Conrad Black to remain free on bail pending the appeal of his July conviction on mail fraud and obstruction of justice charges. Black must report to a federal prison [...]

Iraq's Presidency Council on Friday approved the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid , better known in the western media as "Chemical Ali," after months of deliberations over the fate of al-Majid and two other men condemned to death by an Iraqi tribunal last year. The Presidency Council, consisting of Kurdish President Jalal Talibani, Shi'ite Vice-President [...]

One in every 100 US adults is currently in prison, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States (PCS) . The report found that males were 17 times more likely than females to be imprisoned, and that African Americans and Hispanics faced significantly higher incarceration rates than Caucasians. Since 1987, [...]

US Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Thursday called for the US Justice Department to launch a grand jury investigation to determine if misdemeanor contempt of Congress charges should be prosecuted against former White House legal counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten for failing to cooperate with an [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday upheld a district court's denial of an emergency injunction to block enforcement of an Arizona law that penalizes employers who hire illegal immigrants while opponents of the law argue their case before the appellate court. Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union [...]