The Russian parliament on Wednesday gave second reading approval to amendments to the country's election law that could further strengthen President Vladimir Putin's government. The proposals would ban the formation of blocs by political parties and block the use of "against all" protest votes on ballots. The changes come after Putin previously abolished gubernatorial elections [...]

A group of Iraqi women attending an international meeting of women's rights activists in Amman, Jordan, called Wednesday for a 40 percent representation quota in the Iraqi National Assembly. The two-day event, hosted by Women for Women International was attended by 12 current members of the National Assembly. Currently, Iraqi law requires that women make [...]

According to a report in Malaysia's News Straits Times , government and opposition politicians in Malaysia are pushing for the release of dozens of terror suspects, many suspected of ties to al-Qaeda, held without trial for the past two years. The report says that over 100 detainees are being held at a prison camp in [...]

Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced plans on Wednesday for Canada to ban the bulk export of prescription medicines under certain circumstances and conditions. Legislation to change the Canadian Food and Drugs Act to allow the government to ban the export of drugs as necessary will be introduced in the fall. Dosanjh said the proposed [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia announced Wednesday that it has ordered the release of former Bosnian Serb police chief Stevan Todorovic after only two-thirds of his ten year sentence had been served. Todorovic had been serving his sentence in Spain since 2001, when he struck a deal with prosecutors by pleading guilty [...]

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council in a statement Wednesday that the ICC's preliminary investigation into the situation in Darfur begun June 1, had already revealed "a significant amount of credible information disclosing the commission of grave crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court having taken [...]

Egypt's Higher Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that a new law that would have allowed more than one person to run for president is unconstitutional. The proposed change, seen as an important political reform, was ordered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February 2005, passed by the Egyptian parliament , and finally approved by popular [...]

An Algerian court Wednesday sentenced Mohamed Meguerba to 10 years in prison for masterminding an al-Qaeda plot to execute a bio-terror attack on London using ricin and other agents. Meguerba, an Algerian native, skipped bail in Britain in 2002 and was rearrested in Algeria later that year. Information he gave Algerian interrogators was crucial to [...]

Iranian daily newspaper Etemaad is reporting that the Iranian Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man, known only as Vahid, sentenced to have his eyes surgically gouged out for throwing battery acid in the face of another man during a fight 12 years ago. The court judged the crime on "Qesas" , a [...]

A proposed amendment to the Russian Constitution that would have allowed President Vladimir Putin to serve a third term fell far short of approval by the State Duma on Wednesday. Only 32 members of Russia's lower house voted for it, with 99 voting against. The measure needed 226 votes to pass. Putin's term expires in [...]