In a historic move Monday, the Kuwait National Assembly passed a law granting women the right to both run and vote in parliamentary elections. The legislation passed in the all-male parliament by a vote of 35 to 23 on an issue that had spurred strong reactions by conservative Islamists on one side and women and [...]

The US Supreme Court said Monday that it will decide whether states and counties can be sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act for not making accommodations for disabled inmates in prisons. The Bush administration filed an appeal in the case on behalf of an inmate seeking wheelchair accessibility in his prison. The case highlights [...]

Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of a former computer science professor and three others accused of funding a terrorist group responsible for a bombing in Israel. Sami Al-Arian is charged with using an Islamic think tank he established as a front for finanicing terrorism. Defense lawyers have asked for a change in venue [...]

A US Senate panel reported Monday that Saddam Hussein's government provided Russian officials with millions of dollars in oil rights under the oil-for-food program in a bid to lift UN sanctions against Iraq. The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations , a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs [...]

Russian judges on Monday found oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty on six counts in his trial for fraud in connection with his management of the YUKOS oil company . Reading of the verdict will continue on Tuesday morning. US officials are concerned that the case represents a selective application of the law, and have criticized [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that states may not pass laws banning out-of-state wineries from shipping wine directly to customers in state. The ruling strikes down New York and Michigan laws prohibiting direct shipment to customers from winerys in other states and affects 24 other states with similar wine shipping bans. In the 5-4 [...]

The French yes and no campaigns on the proposed EU constitution officially began Monday with the two sides nearly deadlocked just two weeks before the critical vote on May 29. The constitution requires support from all 25 EU member states and a rejection from an major member such as France could scuttle the constitional project [...]

An Indonesian appeals court has upheld a two-and-a-half year sentence for Abu Bakar Ba'asyir , convicted in March for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings . The defense argued that the conviction wasn't based on sufficient evidence. The US and Australian governments had previously objected to the sentence, calling it too lenient. The ruling was [...]

Egypt Sunday denied a recent Human Rights Watch report accusing it of torturing terror suspects transferred there by the US. The organization had accused Egypt of torturing prisoners which it said were transferred there in circumvention of international law. Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said approximately 60 or 70 suspects had been transferred to his [...]

On a visit to Iraq Sunday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the Shiite- and Kurd-dominated government to involve the Sunni Arabs – estimated to make up anywhere from 20% to over 50% of Iraq's population, based on different counting methodologies – in writing the country's new constitution. The recently-formed constitutional committee of the Iraqi [...]