Australian MPs concerned about new US military commission rules plan to write to US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi next week to ask them to ensure Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks gets a fair trial in the US or to return him to Australia to face trial there. Hicks supporters [...]

An Iraqi cabinet-level committee proposed a draft law Friday that would allow the national government in Iraq to control oil revenues. Negotiations concerning the draft law have been a source of tension in Iraq for months as most Kurds and many Shiites want to retain control of the country's oil resources . On the other [...]

Thousands of Peruvians took to the streets of Lima Friday, marching and waving pictures of lost loved ones in support of a proposal to legalize the death penalty for members of the Shining Path rebel group. In response to a vote last week by the Peruvian Congress indefinitely shelving new death penalty legislation , Peruvian [...]

A Moroccan criminal appeal court Friday acquitted five former Guantanamo Bay detainees of terrorism charges related to the men's connection with Salafia Jihadia and unrelated to their detention at Guantanamo Bay, where three of the men spent up to 4 1/2 years in US custody. The Salafia Jihadia is an offshoot of the Moroccan Islamic [...]

Mexico extradited drug kingpins Osiel Cardenas and Hector "El Guero" Palma and thirteen other major traffickers to the United States Friday as part of an effort by new Mexican president Felipe Calderon to follow through on a promise made by former President Vincente Fox to make increased extraditions to the US . Since taking office, [...]

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett admitted Friday in a written response to a parliamentary question that Britain was "aware of the existence of a secret US detention program" prior to a September speech by President Bush acknowledging the existence of CIA-operated secret prisons for terror detainees. A cabinet Intelligence and Security Committee report has also [...]

The US Supreme Court Friday declined to consider whether the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University can delay implementing Proposal 2 , an amendment to the Michigan Constitution banning affirmative action in public employment, public education and state contracting. In December, a federal judge ruled that the universities could delay implementing [...]

The US Supreme Court Friday granted certiorari in five cases and ordered all briefings on a challenge to the limits on pre-election advertisements introduced as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) , upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003, to be completed by April 18. The two consolidated cases, FEC v. Wisconsin Right [...]

The organizers of a Moscow Gay Pride parade that was denied a permit in May by Moscow's mayor, and then when held anyway in protest was marred by anti-gay violence, are considering filing a lawsuit against the Moscow city government in the European Court of Human Rights . Before any move to the international court, [...]

Former US Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) was sentenced Friday to 30 months imprisonment for receiving gifts and campaign contributions in exchange for political favors. Ney pleaded guilty last October to conspiracy and making false statements in relation to his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff . In response to the political corruption scandal, the Republican congressman [...]