A man who committed suicide during a traffic stop Wednesday evening in Wisconsin claimed in a suicide note found by police that he killed the husband and mother of US District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow last week. The man, Bart Ross, had apparently sent a letter to Chicago television station WMAQ in which he described [...]

Just ten days after his resignation from the post, Omar Karami has been reappointed as prime minister by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a surprising move that has angered opposition leaders. Syrian-backed Karami announced that he wants to form a government of national unity, but opposition politicians announced that will refuse to participate in Karami’s government. [...]

US District Judge Jack B. Weinstien Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of millions of Vietnamese that claim American chemical companies committed war crimes by supplying the military with Agent Orange, a chemical agent containing dioxin, a highly toxic substance that causes cancer and birth defects. In a lengthy opinion , Weinstein stated there [...]

The UN Security Council has urged government officials in Haiti to curb human rights violations and expedite the releases of political leaders currently held in prison. In a statement Wednesday the Council urged the interim Haitian government to calm violence in the area in preparation for elections scheduled for later this year. UN peacekeepers have [...]

Lawyers for the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riot petitioned the Supreme Court Wednesday to hear their case seeking reparations. The case was thrown out of a federal district on the grounds that the two-year statute of limitations had run on the survivors’ claim. Harvard law professor Charles J. Ogletree , who represents the [...]

As anticipated , Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee Hwa submitted his resignation Thursday, citing health reasons for leaving his post two years before the expiry of his second 5-year term. He denied claims that the Chinese government had pressured him into leaving office, although Chinese officials had made it clear in recent public meetings [...]

{JURIST] Nepal's foreign minister said Thursday that King Gyanendra would soon lift the civil liberties restrictions imposed last month after he declared a state of emergency , dismissed the government, and seized power himself in a bid to stabilize a country plagued by an ongoing Maoist rebellion. Speaking in the capital Kathmandu, Ramesh Nath Pandey [...]

Confirming earlier US military statements , Iraqi human rights minister Bakhtiar Amin told reporters Thursday that the US will hand over control of Abu Ghraib , and three other prisons west of Baghdad to Iraq's interim government. Amin calls the agreement to turn over control of the infamous prison an important sign of Iraq's new [...]

The Clear Skies Act of 2005 , S. 131, stalled in the US Senate Wednesday after a split 9-9 vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee . Senate rules do not allow a bill to advance to the Senate floor on a split committee vote, so the legislation in its current form would [...]

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Thursday rejected a US call for China to "reconsider" its proposed anti-secession law allowing for "non-peaceful" reunification of the country as a last resort, labeling Washington's comments "irresponsible" and warning the US not to help any efforts by Taiwan to assert its independence. The new law is expected to be [...]