After debate earlier this week , Senate Republicans have moved up a bill to shield gun companies and dealers from liability lawsuits , placing it ahead of a defense bill for a possible vote on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said the law is needed because, "frivolous suits threaten a domestic industry that [...]

The United States and five Asia-Pacific countries Thursday formally announced an agreement to fight global warming, but critics attacked the voluntary deal for its lack of emissions targets and claimed it undermined existing treaties. The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate – which includes the US, China, India, South Korea, Australia, and now Japan [...]

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak confirmed that he would seek a fifth term in the upcoming September election, the first multi-candidate election in Egypt's recent history. Mubarak promised a transparent and fair election, which has been a contentious issue over the past year. The forgery trial of an opposition candidate regarding petition signatures was halted when [...]

The Irish Republican Army announced Thursday that it would end its "armed campaign" and instead make its fight for Northern Ireland a purely political one. The move was characterized by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as "a momentous and historic development" . The IRA has observed a cease-fire since 1997, [...]

Despite UN opposition , Zimbabwe continued its controversial demolition program on Wednesday, bulldozing a squatter township as riot police kept residents and observers out of the ruins. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says the UN report condemning "Operation Drive Out Trash" (sometimes translated as "Operation Restore Order"), which has left nearly 700,000 homeless, was biased against [...]

FBI Director Robert Mueller went before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to argue that Congress should provide the FBI with the power to issue its own subpoenas, without court approval, so that it can expedite information collection in terrorism investigations. Mueller gave a recent example involving North Carolina State University where FBI agents lacking [...]

Military lawyers cautioned US forces against using extreme interrogation tactics in early 2003, according to documents released in response to a request by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) . The memorandums warned that using such methods might result in mistreatment of American POWs and criminal prosecution, international and domestic, for the interrogators. A Bush administration task [...]

The Metropolitan Police in London arrested nine more people Thursday in connection with the botched July 21 London bombings . The arrests follow three late Wednesday and four earlier in the day , bringing the total number of people in custody to 20, including one of the suspected bombers . AP has more.

In a transcript obtained by the Denver Post, a Utah National Guardsmen testifying at a preliminary hearing for three US soldiers accused of murder said he witnessed "classified personnel", possibly CIA agents, strike Iraqi prisoners with a wooden handle and mock them by mentioning the death of the general the three soldiers are accused of [...]

Speaking in Washington Wednesday, senior US Marine Lieutenant General John Sattler followed up urgings from US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for timely completion of the draft of the new Iraqi constitution by saying it would be "one more nail in the coffin" of insurgents. The looming August 15 deadline has had anxious officials in [...]