Sixteen US House members visited the Guantanamo Bay detention center on Saturday, with a Senate delegation to follow. The trip was planned in response to mounting concerns on both sides of the partisan aisle about alleged human rights violations at the prison. Military officials gave a classified briefing to lawmakers and then led them on [...]

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani , the relatively-moderate cleric and former president of Iran who lost Friday's run-off election to hardline conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , contended Saturday that there had been what he called "organized and illegal" efforts to ensure his defeat. Rafsanjani, president from 1989 to 1997, ran on a platform calling for better relations with [...]

A bill due to be considered in the Russian state Duma next week would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to circumvent the two-term limit on presidents set by the Russian Constitution . The legislative amendment introduced Thursday by United Russia lawmaker Alexander Moskalets would allow Putin to run again if he stepped down before his [...]

Afghanistan began to register voters Saturday for the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18, a day after UN Special Representative Jean Arnault told the UN Security Council that greater security will be necessary to prevent violence at the polls. The Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council election has been threatened by the Taliban and regional militants [...]

An Italian judge ruled Saturday that Calisto Tanzi , founder and CEO of Italian dairy and juice company Parmalat , will stand trial in the $18 billion fraud case that caused the company's downfall. Parmalat Finanziaria SpA admitted in 2003 that a $5 billion account with Bank of America was fake, leading investors to lose [...]

A jury found Donald Fell guilty for murder in federal court Friday allowing the jurors to next determine if he should receive the death penalty, which has not been applied in Vermont for nearly 50 years. In November 2000, Fell and his friend kidnapped Terry King in Vermont and killed her in New York, and [...]

An official with Iran's Guardian Council said early Saturday local time that hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a commanding lead over former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the country's run-off presidential election. With roughly 12.9 million of 22 million ballots counted, Ahmadinejad had taken 61% of the vote, thanks largely to widespread support among [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, affiliates of both Sprint and Nextel plan legal action relating to the companies' planned merger. In a filing with the SEC today, Nextel Partners , a Washington state company that distributes Nextel services, declared its intention to vote on forcing a stock buy-out by the new company. US [...]

Leading Friday's states brief, Florida Governor Jeb Bush Friday signed legislation overhauling Florida's state growth and development guidelines for the first time in twenty years. The legislation calls for $1.5 billion of state money to be spent on highways, water facilities and classrooms in the next year. Senate bills 360 , 444 , and 362 [...]

Leading Friday's international brief, the special criminal tribunal created by the Sudanese government to begin the process of trying individuals alleged to have committed war crimes in Darfur is reportedly questioning its legal status to try certain individuals in light of the recently opened investigation by the International Criminal Court . Several Sudanese government ministers [...]