The US House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday 228-196 that would require voters to present valid photo ID cards when they head to the polls to vote in federal elections starting in 2008, thereby amending the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 . By 2010, under the bill, voters would have to present identification [...]

The much-anticipated trial of former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma ended abruptly Wednesday, when the high court judge presiding over the case threw out the corruption charges against Zuma, saying prosecutors had failed to follow proper procedures. Prosecutors still retain the right to refile the charges against Zuma at a later date, as the [...]

The state of California filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against six leading US and Japanese car manufacturers on Wednesday, alleging that vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases from cars made by the companies have contributed to global warming constituting a 'public nuisance' that has cost it millions of dollars. The said complaint brought by state Attorney General [...]

Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa was appointed Wednesday to preside over the second Saddam Hussein trial , replacing Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri who was removed at the Iraqi government's insistence on Tuesday. Defense lawyers walked out of the court in protest of the replacement, and Hussein was later ordered to be removed from the court room [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Wednesday unanimously acquitted former education minister Andre Rwamakuba on genocide charges, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Rwamakuba, also a physician, was charged with genocide, or alternatively, complicity in genocide, and extermination and murder as crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering [...]

Miguel Osvaldo Etchecolatz , former chief investigator of the Buenos Aires province police, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for his role during the Dirty War in Argentina . With the conviction, Etchecolatz becomes the second person to be sentenced for crimes committed during the Dirty War since the Argentine Supreme Court in June [...]

A senior Spanish judicial officer said Tuesday that 29 suspects accused of the 2004 Madrid train bombings are scheduled to go on trial in February 2007, with the proceeding ending by July and a final decision expected by October. A Spanish judge originally charged the 29 defendants in April. Five of the 29 are accused [...]

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called for a ban on the "defamation of Islam" during his speech at the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. Citing feelings in the Muslim world of "desperation and injustice" in the face of oppression and the war on terror, Musharraf said: We also need to bridge, through [...]

The government of Rwanda and the UN-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday resolved a dispute over the court's alleged hiring of genocide suspects by agreeing to improve information-sharing mechanisms and to conduct background checks on job applicants to avoid the problem in the future. The row erupted when the ICTR successfully pressed [...]

Mexican officials are willing to begin extraditing suspected drug lords held in Mexican custody to the US to face drug charges, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Tuesday at a press conference in New York. On Monday, alleged cartel mastermind Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix , who was the first major accused drug dealer to be extradited [...]