Members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday began hammering out an immigration reform bill in the face of several competing proposals that have bitterly divided lawmakers. Committee Chairman Senator Arlen Specter's Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 has come in for sharp criticism from the American Bar Association (ABA) , which opposes key provisions [...]

Libya freed 130 political prisoners on Thursday, among them 85 members of the Islamist opposition group Muslim Brotherhood , some of whom have been held since 1998. In 2002, the now-abolished People's Court sentenced the Brotherhood members for treason for participating in unauthorized political activity, which is a serious crime in Libya. The court sentenced [...]

The Mississippi House Public Health Committee has approved a bill that would prohibit most abortions in the state, and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) has said that he plans to sign the legislation if both houses of the Mississippi Legislature approve it. The bill, which only allows exceptions to save a woman's life, would tighten [...]

An Italian parliamentary commission has concluded that the Soviet Union backed the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehmet Ali Agca , in a report released on Thursday. The commission argues that the Soviets conspired to kill the pope because of his support for Poland's Solidarity labor movement and his role in [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday unanimously overturned a Quebec school board's ban on carrying Sikh ceremonial daggers at school, ruling that it infringed students' religious freedom under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . Gurbaj Singh, 17, challenged the ban after a school prohibited him from carrying the dagger when it accidentally [...]

A British judge on Thursday approved the takeover of a British shipping and ports company by the United Arab Emirates company Dubai Ports World , a move which could lead to the Arab company taking control of operations of six major US ports. A US company, Eller & Co. , had asked the court to [...]

The US Department of Justice Thursday sued the state of New York for violating the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by not developing voting systems that enable disabled voters easier access to cast their ballots and by not implementing a statewide computerized voter registration database. HAVA, which was passed in 2002, gave states three [...]

A Ugandan military court-martial has reinstated firearms and terrorism charges against defeated presidential candidate Kizza Besigye after the military trial was postponed during elections . Besigye's lawyers said Thursday that they will ignore the reinstated charges and that Besigye will not appear before the court-martial. Uganda's Constitutional Court has already dismissed the military charges saying [...]

A US Department of Defense official Wednesday defended the government's decision in October to refuse access by UN investigators to detainees being held at the US prison base in Guantanamo Bay , and reiterated that the operation of the facility is critical to information gathering in the war on terror. Brian Del Monte, deputy director [...]

The US Senate has voted to accept changes to legislation that would renew the USA PATRIOT Act , setting the stage for a final vote Thursday to authorize the renewal legislation. In one of several votes Wednesday, the Senate voted 95-4 to approve a series of amendments to the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization [...]