Reuters is reporting that President Bush will pick Federal Communications Commission member Kevin Martin to serve as the new head of the agency. Current Chairman Michael Powell resigned in January and plans to leave the agency this week. An official announcement by the White House is expected later Wednesday. Reuters has more. 4:20 PM ET [...]

AP is reporting that the US House has approved an $81.4 billion emergency spending package for combat and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army 1st Lt. Jack Saville was sentenced to 45 days in a military prison Tuesday for his role in forcing three Iraqi civilians into the Tigris River. Saville's court-martial began earlier in the day after Saville pleaded guilty to assault and other charges for forcing two Iraqi civilians detained for curfew violations into the Tigris [...]

Schindler v. Schiavo, Florida Second District Court of Appeal, March 16, 2005 . Excerpt: For those of us who are not trained physicians and who do not deal on a daily basis with patients in vegetative states, or with the difficult decision to remove lifesustaining treatment, the images of Mrs. Schiavo's face are haunting. But [...]

The European Union is expected to announce later Wednesday that it has postponed discussion scheduled for Thursday over the entry of Croatia into the Europe-wide regional organization. Entry talks were scheduled for March 17, but 21 of the 25 EU nations have expressed a desire to see the talks postponed in light of Croatia's perceived [...]

An ongoing diplomatic dispute between Japan and South Korea was taken to another level of intensity Wednesday, after a local Japanese prefecture approved a largely symbolic resolution calling for the creation of "Takeshima Day" to "celebrate Tokyo's claim of sovereignty" over the Dokdo volcanic islets , named in Japanese Takeshima . Japan's national government said [...]

The Handling of Detainees by UK Intelligence Personnel in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and Iraq, UK Intelligence and Security Committee, released March 10, 2005 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Senate minority leader Harry Reid warned Tuesday that Democrats would block all Senate business – short of military, national security and critical government services measures – if Republicans continued to push for a change in confirmation procedures to disallow filibusters to block judicial nominations. The warning came in a stiffly-worded letter to Republican majority leader [...]

The rebuilding process in Iraq could turn into the largest example of corruption and bribery in the modern world according to the annual Global Corruption Report issued Wednesday by Transparency International . TI warned that greater scrutiny of incoming funds and donations was necessary to ensure that all appropriations of financial resources were valid. It [...]

Surrounded by heavy security, the 275 Iraqis elected in January to the nation's first independent parliament in 50 years were sworn in Wednesday, even as several bombs were detonated in the area, attempting to disrupt the proceedings. Iraqi Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer gave a brief speech to the gathered members, urging them to work together [...]