The Florida Supreme Court issued a 5-2 order Wednesday denying a stay of execution for death row inmate Mark Dean Schwab . The court ruled last week that the state could proceed with Schwab's execution after finding that Florida's revised lethal injection protocol does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment . The US Supreme Court [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Wednesday ordered eight Croatian journalists to be questioned about possible contempt of court violations for revealing confidential information. Three national television journalists and five newspaper writers will be investigated for revealing confidential portions of indictments against former generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac . The [...]

Awzar Thi : "The renewal of protests in Burma during recent days should come as no surprise to anyone other than those persons who have written foolish articles making out that what happened in September was somehow not the doing of the people there themselves but rather a consequence of covert American foreign policy. Every [...]

The government of the Republic of Georgia has declared a state of emergency following days of protests in the capital city of Tbilisi, according to a televised speech Wednesday. Reading a prepared statement, Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli announced a presidential decree temporarily banning demonstrations and public calls for violence or government overthrow. Georgian President Mikheil [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel , 06-989, where the Court considered whether parties can contractually agree to vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) . Hall Street Associates leased property to toy manufacturer Mattel and filed suit after Mattel failed to clean up [...]

Former chairman and CEO of mortgage finance company Freddie Mac Leland Brendsel agreed to a consent decree Tuesday to settle administrative charges filed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) , which maintains government oversight of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, in December 2003. Under the consent order, Brendsel will pay a $2.5 [...]

Bosnian police Wednesday arrested retired Serbian General Novack Djukic for alleged involvement in a 1995 war crime in which the Republika Srpska Army fired a single artillery shell into the central square of the town of Tuzla. Seventy-one people died as a result of the blast, most between the ages of 18 and 25. The [...]

The Interpol General Assembly Wednesday voted to issue arrest notices for five Iranians and one Lebanese man wanted in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center . On Monday, Iran ended its formal attempts to prevent the issuance of the red notices , which included lobbying General Assembly delegates, particularly [...]

Four Chadian nationals face criminal charges over their alleged involvement in an attempt to airlift 103 children from Chad for the French charity Zoe's Ark . The four defendants – the mayor, secretary-general, deputy governor, and neighborhood chief of the Chadian border town of Tine – appeared in court Wednesday on charges of fraud and [...]

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's Saturday declaration of emergency rule is likely to end in two to three weeks, ruling Pakistan Muslim League party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain told Pakistan's English newspaper Dawn Tuesday. Hussain said that Musharraf understands the consequences of an extended declaration of emergency, and that it was enacted reluctantly from the start. [...]