A much-awaited motion promising to hold an election of a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution in Nepal was tabled in the parliament Friday, as the House of Representatives met for the first time in four years. A representative of Nepal's prime minister-designate Girija Prasad Koirala tabled the motion in the historic session [...]

Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency , said Friday that Iran has enriched uranium in defiance of a March UN Security Council demand that it immediately suspend its nuclear enrichment program . Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced earlier this month that the country's scientists had successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel [...]

Two Egyptian judges faced disciplinary hearings at the Egyptian Supreme Court Thursday for their criticisms of parliamentary elections last year, which they and eight other judges claimed were marred by fraud. The two judges, Hesham el-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Mekki, are members of the Judge's Club, an 8,000-member group that is pushing for greater judicial independence. [...]

A group of 11 Democrats from the US House of Representatives plan to file a lawsuit Friday against the Bush administration seeking to overturn the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 as unconstitutional because, due to a clerical error, the version of the act signed by President Bush was not passed by both houses of Congress. [...]

Jury deliberations in the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui were put on hold Thursday after a juror called in sick, but are expected to resume Friday at 8:30 AM ET. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema considered postponing the deliberations until Monday , calling this "the most sensitive time in the case" and saying that jurors [...]

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed a bill Thursday giving the state's Secretary of State flexibility in setting the filing period for presidential candidates, responding to the Democratic Party’s efforts to change the 2008 primary calendar and possibly replace New Hampshire as the home of the nation’s first primary . In a statement in Concord, [...]

Belarus authorities have sentenced Alexander Milinkevich and three other opposition leaders to a fifteen-day jail term for attending an illegal demonstration after arresting them Thursday. At the peaceful rally in Minsk, the capital, Milinkevich called on his supporters to work for a constitutional overthrow of President Alexander Lukashenko . About 6,000 people attended the rally, [...]

US v. I. Lewis Libby, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Reggie B. Walton, April 27, 2006 . Read the full text of the memorandum opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

The Republican leadership of the US House of Representatives on Thursday postponed debate on the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 in order to allow more time for the bill's supporters to secure enough votes to pass the legislation. Congress has taken up lobbying reform in the wake of a federal corruption scandal centering [...]

Hurricane Katrina investigation report, US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, April 27, 2006 . Read the full text of the report and additional documentation. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.