King Mswati III of Swaziland has officially refused to sign the final draft of the country's proposed constitution , which passed through both the House of Assembly and Senate of Swaziland in June . The king had already sent the constitution back to parliament a week ago, asking parliament to reconsider adopting Christianity as the [...]

Judge Barbara Jones , in a ruling made public Tuesday, has denied a petition by former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers for a new trial, opening the way for him to be sentenced as scheduled on Wednesday for the huge WorldCom business fraud. Ebbers had made various arguments claiming that the judge or prosecutors should have [...]

European antitrust investigators raided Intel Corp. offices in Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy Tuesday as part of an ongoing probe of the chipmaker European affairs by the European Commission, which over the last four years has been looking into allegations that the computer chip giant used unfair business practices to encourage client's to purchase its [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Tuesday again called for an independent probe into the May killings of hundreds of protestors by government troops in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government has resisted previous calls for an investigation, drawing accusations of a coverup . UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour called [...]

Despite earlier doubts that the Iraqi constitution will be completed and ratified on schedule in a referendum, Farid Ayar, a member of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission , said Tuesday he is "optimistic" that the vote on the constitution will be held as planned on October 15, followed by general elections in December. Xinhuanet has more.

BBC television is reporting that UK police have made a "series of arrests" in the London bombings case after they identified the body of a bomber who died in the Tavistock Square bus blast. It is not clear whether the bus bomber was a suicide bomber or whether the bomb went off while it was [...]

Echoing earlier statements by UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke after last week's London bombings, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons Monday that he intended to stick by the current timetable for new counter-terrorism legislation, scheduled to go before parliament in the fall and come into effect by the following spring. Blair [...]

In his first in-person consultation with Senator leaders on his upcoming nomination of a replacement for retiring US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , President Bush met Tuesday with Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), ranking Judiciary Democrat Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). [...]

After last week's bombings in London, UK foreign minister Jack Straw has joined with European Union justice commissioner Franco Frattini in calling for new EU rules to allow government access to telecommunications data . "I believe that provided there are proper safeguards that no one's civil liberties are threatened by retention and access to data, [...]

The European Court of Justice Tuesday ruled in favor of the controversial EU Food Supplements Directive , scheduled to come into effect August 1. The directive, approved by EU governments in 2002, uses a "positive list" system under which substances allowed in health supplements are limited to those included on an approved list. Since health [...]