Former US Army soldier Steven Green pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Kentucky federal court to charges related to his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in the Mahmudiya (also "Mahmoudiya") area in March. Green, who allegedly tried to burn the bodies of the [...]

The parliament of Kyrgyzstan voted Wednesday to adopt a new constitution that will restrict presidential authority based on a compromise reached Tuesday. The new constitution creates a presidential-parliamentary government, enlarging the parliament to 90 deputies and enhancing its power. Additionally, the president will no longer have the power to appoint the prime minister, who will [...]

The Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland on Wednesday imposed a life imprisonment sentence on Lee Boyd Malvo , who pleaded guilty last month to six Maryland murders that occurred during a three-week shooting spree in the Washington, DC area in 2002. Malvo has already been sentenced to life imprisonment in Virginia for sniper shootings [...]

A panel of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ordered prosecutors Wednesday to drop five of the 14 charges against Vojislav Seselj , ruling that the dropped "crimes against humanity" charges were duplicates of "war crimes" charges also in the indictment . ICTY judges also ruled that the prosecution may not use [...]

Ballot measures approved in three US states Tuesday will ban smoking in many public places. In Arizona, Nevada and Ohio voters chose more comprehensive measures over less restrictive versions generally favored by the food and beverage industry. Ohio's Issue 5 , for example, prohibits smoking in workplaces and other public areas, with tobacco stores and [...]

Mexican legislators in the Cámara de Diputados , the lower house of parliament, voted Tuesday to prohibit Mexican President Vicente Fox from traveling to Australia and Vietnam later this month, citing domestic concerns, including the ongoing conflict in Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico, and small explosions in the nation's capital allegedly planted by guerilla [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in the consolidated cases of Gonzales v. Carhart , 05-380, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood , 05-1382, which challenge the constitutionality of the federal prohibition of partial-birth abortions . Proponents of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 argue that the legislation prohibits only a small percentage [...]

Voters in nine US states approved ballot initiatives restricting the use of eminent domain in mid-term elections Tuesday, reacting strongly against the 2005 US Supreme Court Kelo v. New London decision, which held that private redevelopment conferring economic benefits on a community qualifies as a "public use" allowing local governments to expropriate private property under [...]

Ballot measures limiting political campaign contributions and spending failed in two states Tuesday, while measures temporarily barring some former public officials from lobbying succeeded in two other states. Voters in California soundly rejected Proposition 89 , which would have provided public campaign funding for qualified candidates and imposed a 0.2 percent income tax on corporations [...]

US proponents of marijuana legalization took stock Wednesday after voters in Colorado, Nevada and South Dakota rejected mid-term ballot measures that would have decriminalized use of the drug in certain circumstances. In Colorado, voters on Tuesday rejected Amendment 44 that would have legalized the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana for adults over [...]