The North Korean government is "actively committing crimes against humanity" by the starvation and political repression of North Korean citizens, according to a report released Sunday by a blue-ribbon panel comprised of Vaclav Havel , former President of the Czech Republic; former Prime Minister of Norway Kjell Magne Bondevik ; and Holocaust survivor and Nobel [...]

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Last-minute voter turnout pushed the proposed new Serbian constitution over the required 50% margin for adoption late Sunday. The two-day referendum on the draft charter, which includes a controversial preamble asserting Serbia's ongoing claim to Kosovo, got off to a slow start on Saturday, with only 17.81% of eligible voters casting ballots. Preliminary Sunday polls [...]

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Israeli President Moshe Katsav Sunday evening rejected a recommendation issued earlier in the day by Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz that he voluntarily suspend his presidential duties pending the conclusion of a criminal investigation into alleged sexual harassment. In a legal opinion, Mazuz had informed the country's Supreme Court that the president must "consider suspending [...]

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China's legislature Saturday finished the unprecedented sixth reading of a landmark private property bill intended to protect state, collective and private property . If the National People's Congress passes the legislation next March as anticipated, it will be the first bill in China's history to specifically protect private ownership. The controversial bill has already sparked [...]

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Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (KBR) has been violating a US Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) direction on classifying proprietary data by claiming protection for information normally in the public sphere, according to a report issued Friday by Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen Jr. . Bowen wrote: The routine use [...]

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