A court in Kuwait has sentenced to death a member of the country's ruling family for drug trafficking offenses, saying the defendant "deserved no mercy." It is unknown how closely Sheik Talal Nasser Al Sabah is related to the head of the Kuwaiti royal family , but Sunday's verdict marks the first known occurrence of [...]

The Constitutional Court of the German state of Bavaria Monday upheld a 2004 state law which bans teachers from wearing religious headscarves . An Islamic religious group had sued the state claiming the law was unconstitutional under the Bavarian state constitution because it eliminated Muslim symbols from the classroom yet still allowed Christian and Jewish [...]

Former Burundi President Domitien Ndayizeye and four others were acquitted by the Supreme Court of Burundi Monday on charges of attempting a coup and planning to assassinate current President Pierre Nkurunziza . Two other accused, Alain Mugabarabona and Tharcisse Ndayishimiye, were convicted and sentenced to jail on similar charges. Mugabarabona, the leader of the small [...]

Curtis Doebbler : "The United States and Iraqi government carried out the summary, arbitrary and extra-judicial executions of Mr. Barzan al-Tikriti and Judge Awad Hamad al-Bandar. The executions were carried out in violations of international law and constitute a violation of the right to life and a war crime under international law because they were [...]

The United States observed a federal holiday Monday in honor of slain civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , remembered for his leadership of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Courts, government offices, and many public universities were closed as tributes to King were held throughout the country. Monday's commemoration [...]

The House of Representatives in Nepal adopted the country's draft interim constitution Monday following its approval by the Nepalese cabinet on Sunday. The interim constitution simultaneously provides for the dissolution of the current House of Representatives and the creation of an interim parliament which will include twenty-five percent of seats held by former Maoist insurgents. [...]

New rules intended to combat illegal immigration went into force in Russia Monday. The rules set harsher penalties for businesses that employ illegal migrants, restrict border crossings, amend the Criminal Code, limit the duration of visas distributed to certain nationalities, and increase reporting requirements to the Russian Federal Migration Service for employers. Meanwhile, officials have [...]

A Moroccan editor and journalist were both convicted Monday of insulting the Islamic religion in a 10-page article about religious jokes published in a Moroccan newspaper in early December. Journalist Sanaa al-Aji and Driss Ksikes, editor of Nichane weekly, were given suspended sentences of three years, fined $9,280 each, and are prohibited from engaging in [...]

Former Saddam-era Revolutionary Court judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar and former Iraqi intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti , sentenced to death with Saddam Hussein in November in connection with crimes against humanity committed in the town of Dujail in 1982, were executed before dawn Monday at an Iraqi military facility in Baghdad. As shown by official [...]

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev approved several new amendments to the country's new constitution Monday, returning key powers to the presidency, including the right to appoint cabinet officials. The new constitutional amendments pushed through parliament at his urging contradict the aims of a compromise reached in November which led to the adoption of a new constitution [...]