Impeachment proceedings in the Philippines House of Representatives tottered on the verge of collapse Tuesday when lawmakers stormed out of a committee hearing, claiming supporters of President Gloria Arroyo were trying to railroad them into a decision that could doom the case against her. Under the Philippine constitution , only one impeachment proceeding against the [...]

In a move officials described as a first among western democracies, the British government Tuesday unveiled plans to outlaw the possession of "extreme pornographic material," described as graphic, sexually explicit material that "contains actual scenes or realistic depictions of serious violence, bestiality or necrophilia." The ban would extend to internet downloads. It is already illegal [...]

Leading Tuesday's states brief, a Baltimore Circuit Court Judge today heard arguments concerning the constitutionality of the state's same-sex marriage prohibition. The plaintiffs allege that a 1973 state law which states that only a marriage between a man and woman is valid violates their constitutional rights, and an American Civil Liberties Union attorney told the [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in a letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, set to begin his confirmation hearing next week. The rights group urged Senators to "fully consider his legal and judicial philosophy, his approach to decision-making, and his possible impact [...]

A federal judge has said that detainees held in the US terror suspect prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, must be asked for permission to have their names released before the government can release them to the Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request. Earlier this year the government released transcripts of Combatant [...]

Human trafficking of women and children is on the rise worldwide, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Tuesday. Addressing an Asia-Pacific human rights conference in Beijing, Arbour called for closer regional partnerships to combat human trafficking , which Arbour says results in millions of women and children ending up as sex slaves, [...]

Lebanon has arrested three former pro-Syrian security chiefs, and the head of the presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan turned himself into authorities after an arrest warrant was issued for him in connection with the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , sources said Tuesday. The four men were brought before the UN commission investigating the [...]

The 32 UN ambassadors who make up the intergovernmental negotiating group named by the UN General Assembly president last week continued negotiations Tuesday on the text to be submitted to September's summit on UN reform . The group is conducting a week-long meeting to respond to last-minute revisions to the draft submitted by US Ambassador [...]

Zimbabwe's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved constitutional reforms that opposition lawmakers and many observers claimed would drastically reduce the rights of the country's citizens. The legislation, approved 103-29 in a legislature dominated by the Zanu PF party , the party of President Robert Mugabe , halts legal challenges by white farmers to government land seizures, [...]

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denounced the increasingly large role politics and moral issues have played in recent judicial appointments and decisions in a speech Monday at Chapman University . Scalia blasted "judge moralists" and said he was disappointed that the US Supreme Court was increasingly deciding moral issues not found in the Constitution, [...]