Romanian President Traian Basescu has called for a national referendum to allow citizens to vote on amendments to the constitution aimed at reducing corruption. In a speech to parliament Wednesday, Basescu said he would like to amend the Romanian constitution to allow citizens to vote for lawmakers based on their name, rather than by party. [...]

The Serbian Parliament voted Thursday to reject a United Nations plan released by the United Nations that calls for Kosovo's autonomy and for the right of Kosovo to govern itself as a multi-ethnic society. The plan by Special Envoy for the Future Status Process Marrti Ahtisaari was rejected by 225 of 244 deputies of the [...]

A law is currently being drafted in the Rwandan Parliament that would limit families to having three children in order to curb increasing poverty levels , an official said Wednesday. Although the law as drafted does not include punitive measures for families who violate it, it would includes incentives for families who limit themselves to [...]

A federal court in California sentenced two former Enron executives Wednesday to probation for their roles in Enron's manipulation of electricity supplies during the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis. Timothy Belden , former head of Enron's West Coast power trading who pleaded guilty to deliberately submitting false data to California electricity operators to drive up [...]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and drug manufacturer Merck Pharmaceuticals reached a $2.3 billion agreement on Wednesday that will settle all outstanding tax disputes from 1993 to 2006. According to an IRS statement, the settlement, one of the largest in recent history, resolves federal taxes, interest after deductions, and penalties on many issues, including three [...]

The Nigerian House of Representatives held public hearings Wednesday on a proposed bill to criminalize homosexuality . The bill would authorize a maximum five-year sentence for any person found to be openly gay or practicing homosexual acts. Religious groups say the bill is necessary to protect public morality, but gay activists said it will violate [...]

The trial of 29 people suspected of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people began Thursday in the National Court of Spain. The defendants , mostly of Moroccan descent, are charged with 192 counts of murder and upwards of 1,800 counts of attempted murder related to the March 11, 2004 bombings, [...]

Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters will escape jail time after a defense lawyer for BALCO founder Victor Conte admitted Wednesday in court filings that he allowed reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to see transcripts of the grand jury testimony of several baseball stars, including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and Gary Sheffield, regarding the steroids [...]

On the same day the defense rested in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby , US District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Wednesday ruled against Libby on several issues after it became clear that Libby was not going to testify in his self-defense, as defense lawyers had previously said he would. Libby's defense [...]

UK Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer on Wednesday backed a proposal to allow police officers to question terror suspects after they have been formally charged. Following a speech defending the UK Human Rights Act , Falconer implied in response to questions that the post-charge questioning proposal could also extend to serious criminal offenses besides terrorism. Current [...]