Leading Wednesday's international brief, South Africa's Constitutional Court has issued a unanimous ruling ordering the South African Department of Justice to expedite the alternative sentencing of the 62 individuals currently sitting on death row. South Africa placed a moratorium on all executions in 1989 and abolished the death penalty in 1995. Part of that ruling [...]

After three hours of talks Wednesday, Iran agreed to maintain a suspension of its nuclear program while European Union foreign ministers agreed to come up with further proposals and give them to Iran in July or August of this year. The European group, including ministers from Britain, Germany, and France met with Iranian officials after [...]

With the last ten opinion polls putting the no camp ahead, suggesting that the European Union constitutional treaty will be rejected when French voters go to the polls Sunday, those members of the yes campaign not resigned to losing are desperate to reach undecided voters. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said that with up to [...]

Activists calling for a boycott of the government-supported referendum on constitutional changes to clear the way for multi-candidate presidential elections in Egypt were beaten and arrested by policemen and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday. The demonstrators say the referendum offers no real democratic changes and instead insures that Mubarak will not face any [...]

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the US Circuit Court of Appeals by a 56-43 vote that fell largely along party lines. The vote was the first to confirm one of President Bush's disputed judicial nominees and was made possible by the compromise implemented to avert the "nuclear [...]

International donors and African countries meet Thursday to discuss increasing their support for the African Union's peacekeeping efforts. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konaré will host the conference, which will bring together officials from the United States, European Union countries and African nations to increase support for the African Union mission [...]

Amnesty International Wednesday released its 2005 Report , condemning governments for failing to show principled leadership, betraying promises on human rights, failing to confront their lack of success with fighting terrorism, and persisting with failed but politically convenient strategies. The report says US policies which came to light after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse allegations, [...]

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels refused to grant clemency or a 90-day stay of execution for Gregory Scott Johnson, a convicted murderer who hoped to give his kidney and liver to his sister, who suffers from non-alcoholic hepatitis. In a statement released after his death Wednesday morning, Johnson accused the parole board of failing to recognize [...]

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), has dropped her plan to use procedural delays to postpone a debate on the nomination of John Bolton to become US Ambassador to the United Nations. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) plans to begin the debate on Bolton's nomination on Wednesday and a vote is expected by the end [...]

The US House voted 238-194 Tuesday to loosen restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and the legislation now goes to the Senate, where it has strong bi-partisan support. However, President Bush has promised to veto the bill. Under the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act , the federal government could fund research involving [...]