Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined plans Tuesday to reform the country's pacifist constitution during his time in office. A national referendum would be required before the constitution could be amended and Abe promised Tuesday to pass a "National Referendum Bill" and accompanying procedures during the 2007 parliamentary session. Abe took office in September after [...]

A defense lawyer for former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said Tuesday that Libby will call Vice President Dick Cheney to testify in Libby's upcoming trial on perjury and obstruction of justice charges . Libby is charged in connection to the Justice Department's investigation of the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity [...]

The US Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland has filed a new bankruptcy plan with the US Bankruptcy Court anticipating a payment of $75 million to settle outstanding sex abuse claims against some of its clergy. Under the plan submitted Monday, $40.7 million will go to 143 people, another $13.75 million will be allocated to cover [...]

Peruvian President Alan Garcia has called on lawmakers to authorize the death penalty for terrorism offenses . In a speech to the Peruvian Congress Monday, Garcia urged lawmakers to "give the necessary tools to the judges and to the executive branch to definitely eliminate" the Shining Path rebel group. Shining Path rebels are believed to [...]

Serge Brammertz , the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who is heading the UN's independent investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri told the UN Security Council Monday that he has made progress in "developing crime scene evidence and investigating potential perpetrators." While briefing the Council on his sixth [...]

Prosecutors at the Iraqi High Tribunal showed video footage of the aftermath of the so-called "Anfal" campaigns as Saddam Hussein's genocide trial continued in Baghdad Tuesday. The footage included images of warplanes bombing ethnic Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq, families fleeing the attacks and the bodies of children killed by the chemical weapons. Hussein's defense [...]

Jackie Arklov, a Swedish citizen who volunteered with a Croatian militia during the Bosnian war, was convicted of war crimes Monday in what the Stockholm District Court called the first occasion in modern times that a Swedish court has convicted someone of violating international law. Arklov was found guilty of torturing Bosnian Muslim prisoners of [...]

Robert M. McDowell, one of five commissioners that make up the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) , has said that he will not vote on the proposed $82.2 billion AT&T-BellSouth merger despite being cleared to do so by FCC general counsel Samuel Feder. Feder issued a memorandum last week concluding that the government's in breaking the [...]

A lawyer for a US Marine captain implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November said Monday that his client has been informed that he will face criminal charges. Capt. Lucas McConnell has been told that he will face dereliction of duty charges, but his lawyer expressed surprise at the pending [...]

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have said that a program providing temporary housing to victims of Hurricane Katrina could resume this week. US District Judge Richard Leon last month ordered FEMA to reinstate certain housing payments for Katrina victims due to the agency's failure to clearly explain to evacuees why they were [...]