Saudi Arabian men went to the polls Thursday to vote in municipal elections around the country, marking the first elections ever held by the country. The election was for 127 local government seats around the country in the first of three local elections to be held through April. More than 1,800 candidates stood for the [...]

The Washington Post reported Thursday that allegations by Guantanamo Bay detainees that female soldiers at the military base used sexually suggestive tactics during interrogations of detainees have been confirmed by a Pentagon investigation. The women allegedly rubbed their bodies against the men, wore little clothing and touched them provocatively in an effort to obtain information, [...]

The Federal Communications Commission Thursday rejected a proposal that would have required cable providers to offer multiple digital channels from local broadcasters. Commissioners upheld by a 4-1 vote a 2001 regulation requiring cable operators to carry only one digital channel for each broadcaster. Broadcasters contended that the cable providers were trying to prevent competition against [...]

Some Canadian MPs have reported that they have been lobbied by US citizens and advocacy groups over – primarily against – pending federal legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage. Several legislators say they have received e-mails, phone calls and faxes from concerned Americans, while several US conservative groups have launched advertising campaigns in an attempt [...]

Russian president Vladimir Putin welcomed an international dialogue on human rights issues Thursday during a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour , but warned that rights issues should not be exploited for political and economic ends. Arbour is making her first visit to Russia in her UN role this week. During [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin testified Thursday before a judicial inquiry commission on his role in a corrupt government program originally intended to promote national unity following a close referendum on separation by Quebec. During the program's operation Martin was Finance Minister in the Liberal government of former prime minister Jean Chretien, who testified Tuesday [...]

The Federal Aviation Administration received numerous warnings of al-Qaida's hopes to hijack airplanes in the months prior to September 11, according to a previously unreleased report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States . According to an August report by the commission, the FAA had at least 52 warnings and intelligence [...]

The US Senate is not expected to vote on the nomination of Judge Michael Chertoff as Secretary of Homeland Security until some time next week as several senators have requested access to an uncensored copy of a memo Chertoff wrote on interrogation techniques while at the Justice Department. Senators Joseph Lieberman and Carl Levin both [...]

As previously expected , Germany's Federal Prosecutor Thursday rejected calls to investigate US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for possible war crimes stemming from US abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and four former Iraqi prisoners held at Abu Ghraib who say they were abused by American soldiers had [...]

Ukraine's attorney general, Svyatoslav Piskun, said Wednesday in an article published in Austria's Der Standard newspaper that he has evidence that newly-elected President Viktor Yushchenko was deliberately poisoned last year, and that it was probably a government plot. Last October, Ukrainian prosecutors dismissed Yushchenko's health as a case of food poisoning, but reopened their investigation [...]