Kuwait's parliament on Tuesday averted a constitutional crisis by ousting seriously ill emir, Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, and handing temporary leadership to the cabinet, led by Prime Minister Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. The vote brought to a close a nine-day leadership crisis in Kuwait after longtime emir Jaber Al Ahmed Al [...]

Indonesian leaders have rejected conclusions of an independent report that faults the Indonesian military for up to 185,000 civilian deaths in East Timor during its 24-year rule. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Tuesday that the report's claims were "exaggerated" and that the country's forces were not guilty of gross human rights violations. Indonesian General [...]

Members of a joint Louisiana House-Senate committee Monday approved a plan to set an April date for New Orleans city elections two days before US District Judge Ivan Lemelle was scheduled to hold hearings in a lawsuit challenging a December executive order of Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco authorizing an indefinite delay. The plan, drawn up [...]

A military jury on Monday recommended issuing a reprimand rather than a prison sentence for Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. in connection with the interrogation death of an Iraqi general. Welshofer was convicted of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty for the incident by the six-officer jury at Fort Carson , avoiding [...]

Canadian Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper pledged Monday night to clean up government corruption and get tough on crime after his Conservative Party defeated the governing Liberals in Canada's federal election and won enough seats to form a minority government in association with two other smaller parties and one independent MP. Speaking to supporters in his [...]

The West Virginia Legislature on Monday approved a bill, S. 247 , that covers a variety of mine safety improvements, including a rapid-response system, only days after a second mine accident in the state in a month killed two miners. The legislation, initially proposed by Gov. Joe Manchin , was passed within a span of [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has uncovered fraud by public officials in the wake of Hurricane Katrina , according to a top agent in the affected region. John G. Raucci, FBI special agent in Mississippi, said that indictments would be handed down, but he did not specify when or how many, though he did say [...]

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said that criminal defamation charges against four critics would be dropped after he received letters from the four apologizing for the incident. Hun Sen faced increasing international pressure to drop the charges, but as recently as two days ago had refused to do so. Hun Sen had the [...]

A federal judge on Monday ruled that the US Department of Defense must release the names of detainees being held as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay . District Judge Jed Rakoff rejected arguments by the Pentagon that releasing the names would harm the privacy interests of the detainees' and their families. Rakoff ordered the Defense [...]

US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito is expected to take the first step toward confirmation Tuesday, with an already apparent approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee . All ten Republicans on the committee have announced their support for Alito's nomination, assuring that it will go before the full Senate. It remains unclear whether all [...]