The Administrative Court of Thailand on Friday called off by-elections scheduled for this weekend because there is a possibility that the results of the April 2 general election will be determined to be illegitimate. Earlier this week, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej urged the country's Supreme Court to take an active role in resolving the country's [...]

Alabama Governor Bob Riley has signed the Rosa Parks Act , legislation that authorizes pardons for Rosa Parks , the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists convicted of violating Jim Crow laws in the state. Those seeking a pardon, or family members of those deceased, will have to apply for [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has expressed concern at the human rights situation in Ethiopia after making a brief first-hand assessment in a visit earlier this week and holding talks with government and civil society representatives on how to address human rights challenges in the country. Arbour said prison conditions for detainees [...]

An advisor to the Saudi Justice Ministry has said that Saudi Arabia is in the process of setting up a new state security court to try terror suspects, according to Saudi daily Okaz . A panel of between five and seven top judges nominated by the justice and interior ministries and ultimately appointed by King [...]

A much-awaited motion promising to hold an election of a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution in Nepal was tabled in the parliament Friday, as the House of Representatives met for the first time in four years. A representative of Nepal's prime minister-designate Girija Prasad Koirala tabled the motion in the historic session [...]

Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency , said Friday that Iran has enriched uranium in defiance of a March UN Security Council demand that it immediately suspend its nuclear enrichment program . Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced earlier this month that the country's scientists had successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel [...]

Two Egyptian judges faced disciplinary hearings at the Egyptian Supreme Court Thursday for their criticisms of parliamentary elections last year, which they and eight other judges claimed were marred by fraud. The two judges, Hesham el-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Mekki, are members of the Judge's Club, an 8,000-member group that is pushing for greater judicial independence. [...]

A group of 11 Democrats from the US House of Representatives plan to file a lawsuit Friday against the Bush administration seeking to overturn the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 as unconstitutional because, due to a clerical error, the version of the act signed by President Bush was not passed by both houses of Congress. [...]

Jury deliberations in the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui were put on hold Thursday after a juror called in sick, but are expected to resume Friday at 8:30 AM ET. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema considered postponing the deliberations until Monday , calling this "the most sensitive time in the case" and saying that jurors [...]

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed a bill Thursday giving the state's Secretary of State flexibility in setting the filing period for presidential candidates, responding to the Democratic Party’s efforts to change the 2008 primary calendar and possibly replace New Hampshire as the home of the nation’s first primary . In a statement in Concord, [...]