Leading Monday's international brief, debate begins today in the UN General Assembly on the draft resolution proposal to expand the UN Security Council by six new permanent member seats, among them the proposing G4 nations , and four new non-permanent member seats. The draft proposal, released last Wednesday , and formally submitted to the General [...]

Iraq's parliament will debate a "comprehensive" bill later this month that would allow it to reorganize the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) charged with trying Saddam Hussein and move his trial up, preferably to before the scheduled October referendum on a new Iraqi constitution. The first reading of the bill is scheduled for July 20. The [...]

Nine construction workers have died after Iraqi police left them in a metal container for 14 hours in blistering summer heat. Iraqi police detained 12 men suspected of insurgent activity after a firefight with US troops. One of the survivors claimed he was also tortured with electric shocks. Iraq has admitted to abuses by its [...]

Republican officials expect President Bush to put forward a nominee to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the end of July, according to Monday's Washington Post. Senator Orrin Hatch has meanwhile joined several other Senators in speculating that Chief Justice William Rehnquist will retire within days, telling Meet The Press Sunday, "That's my sense, [...]

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove spoke with TIME magazine reporter Matthew Cooper just days before the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame was revealed in a newspaper column by Bob Novak, but although he referred to her he has denied mentioning her by name, Rove's lawyer said Sunday. Cooper has agreed to [...]

Jury selection begins Monday in the first of over 3,800 state and federal lawsuits against pharmaceutical giant Merck , alleging that the company knew its popular painkiller Vioxx was dangerous before it voluntarily pulled the drug from the market in September 2004. The SEC is also investigating the company's handling of the drug. The first [...]

Cyrus Kar, the American filmmaker detained by US forces in Iraq in May and held for 54 days after the taxi he was riding in was stopped at a checkpoint and found to be carrying timing devices that could be used to make bombs, described his ordeal to reporters in Baghdad Sunday after his release [...]

The UK Association of Chief Police Officers reported Sunday that relations with Muslims in the UK were "reassuringly calm" in the aftermath of the July 7 London bombings, tentatively linked to Islamic extremists. Fearing public backlash, the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission had recommended immediately after the attacks that British Muslims keep a low profile [...]

The trial of Islamist radical Mohammed Bouyeri for the November 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh opened with high security in place on Monday in Amsterdam. The controversial Van Gogh had published columns and a short film criticizing abuses against women under Islam; his killing provoked over 150 retaliatory attacks on local Islamic [...]

Voice of the Faithful , a Catholic lay reform group with some 30,000 members nationwide, approved a resolution on Sunday at its first national meeting in three years calling for tougher laws against clergy sex abuse . Louisiana and Ohio currently have legislation pending that would extend the time period for reporting abuse. Catholic bishops [...]