Iraqi deputy prime minister Barham Salih said Sunday that the transitional national assembly chosen in the January 30 elections and responsible for drafting a permanent constituton for Iraq replacing the current Transitional Administrative Law would meet for the first time March 16. The 275-member assembly, dominated by the 140-member United Iraqi Alliance, a grouping which [...]

More recently-declassified notes of some Guantanamo detainees' conversations with their defense attorneys include allegations that US personnel at the camp repeatedly mocked Islam, made disparaging remarks, and took religiously-abusive actions such as that of a prison barber in cutting the shape of a cross into a detainee's hair. The latest revelations are consistent with previous [...]

An Israeli cabinet minister has called for the Palestinian Authority to reverse a decision publicized Thursday to reintroduce capital punishment and to immediately stay the scheduled execution of accused collaborators with Israel . The call by Natan Sharansky , Israel's minister for Jerusalem and diaspora affairs, came in a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [...]

Some 60 European survivors and relatives of victims of the December 26 South Asia tsunami led by controversial personal injury lawyer Edward Fagan formally filed suit in New York Friday against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; Indian Ocean tsunami warnings timeline) and French-owned hotel chain Sofitel . The action, [...]

Italian prosecutors have questioned Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was wounded late Friday by US forces after she was released by her kidnappers at the end of a month-long hostage ordeal. An Italian security agent was killed in the incident. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi angrily summoned the US ambassador immediately after the shooting to [...]

Thousands in Taiwan are expected to protest China's proposed anti-secession law in demonstrations Sunday. The proposed legislation authorizes China to take military action if Taiwan declares formal independence from the mainland. In Saturday's the opening spring session of China's parliament, the National People's Congress , Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao re-emphasized the importance of the [...]

The Dutch Parliament's lower house passed a new terror bill Friday that will lower the level of evidence needed to hold a terror suspect, allow the government to hold suspects for up to two weeks without filing charges, and require suspected terrorists to regularly report to authorities. The bill, proposed by the Dutch Justice Ministry [...]

A Berlin administrative court Friday dismissed the title and reparation claim of Germany's largest department store operator, and ordered the government to pay compensation directly to the heirs of a Jewish family that owned property taken by the Nazi government 70 years ago. The property in question once belonged to Jewish-owned retailer Wertheim, and is [...]

Coincidentally on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the entering into force on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , Iran said Saturday that it was unwilling to put a permanent end to enriching uranium and warned that further US-led efforts to push Iran before the UN Security Council would result in a more unstable Middle East. Top Iranian [...]

American women delegates joined their counterparts from around the world meeting at the United Nations Friday to reaffirm a blueprint aimed at supporting global equality for women. The reaffirmation of the goals of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women came after the US backed down from an initial proposal to include an anti-abortion amendment. [...]