Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid said Tuesday that he would vote against the nomination of Judge John Roberts for Chief Justice of the United States because he had too many questions remaining about him. Reid's announcement while speaking on the Senate floor came as a surprise, as many expected him to support the nomination. [...]

The US government has argued in a court filing that Pope Benedict XVI has immunity as the head of the Vatican state and that a lawsuit against him should be dismissed. The lawsuit pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas charges the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his role as [...]

China has warned the UN against abusing a new international right to intervene to protect those threatened by genocide or war crimes agreed to last week at a UN summit. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in a speech before the UN General Assembly said that the right to intervene remains subject to UN Security Council [...]

The US Department of Labor has implemented an exemption to requirements that government contractors have a written affirmative action plan if the contractors are working with the government for the first time on reconstruction projects following Hurricane Katrina . Although its unclear whether the temporary exemption will have much impact, the Department said it was [...]

Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tuesday that Iran would consider quitting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the US or EU takes Iran before the UN Security Council over "breaches" of international atomic safeguards. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is meeting in Vienna this week and one of the [...]

Several rights groups and two African-American registered Georgia voters have filed a lawsuit challenging a Georgia law that requires voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. The plaintiffs – including Common Cause/Georgia, the League of Women Voters of Georgia, the NAACP, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus – are seeking to have the law [...]

Six fellow inmates of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky are planning on running against him for a seat in Russia's State Duma. Candidates began registering with the elections commission Monday as the race officially began, though neither Khodorkovsky nor any other inmates have yet filed their registrations in Moscow's Universitesky district. Khodorkovsky, who is [...]

AP is reporting that former Hollinger International President and COO and former Chicago Sun-Times publisher David Radler has pleaded guilty to his role in diverting $32 million from Hollinger. 11:34 AM ET – Radler was indicted last month on federal mail and wire fraud charges and Tuesday's plea was widely expected . Radler was charged [...]

Discussions are ongoing between at least five online music file-sharing companies and recording industry executives in an attempt to convert the networks, which allow users to freely swap music over the internet, to paid services. Several companies have initiated settlement discussions following the US Supreme Court's decision in June in MGM v. Grokster , which [...]

An Indonesian court Tuesday rejected a request to drop a pollution case against US gold mining company Newmont Mining and the company's local subsidiary president director Richard Ness. Ness, from Ada, MN, will stand trial on October 7 and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $68,000 fine if convicted of dumping mercury [...]