The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a group of American Samoans who say the United States should grant full citizenship to people born in the U.S. territory. The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship does not extend to the islands that have been a part of the country since 1900.   read more

The global number of nuclear warheads dropped last year, though none of the nine nuclear powers showed any signs of giving up their atomic weapons, an arms watchdog said Monday. In an annual report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, together had about 15,395 nuclear weapons on Jan. 1 this year, down from 15,850 a year earlier.   read more

While corporate executives have been outspoken in defending their labor practices before Congress and the public, the American workers who lost jobs to global outsourcing companies have been largely silent. Until recently. Now some of the workers who were displaced are starting to speak out, despite severance agreements prohibiting them from criticizing their former employers.   read more

Demonstrators have formed a human chain near a U.S. air base in western Germany to protest against lethal drone strikes. Organizers estimated that about 5,000 people took part in the chain near the Ramstein Air Base on a rainy Saturday, while police put the number at some 2,000.   read more

A Navy admiral on Thursday pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities investigating a $34 million fraud scheme involving a Malaysian contractor known as “Fat Leonard” — becoming the highest-ranking military official to be taken down in the wide-spanning scandal. Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau, 55, is believed to be the first active-duty naval flag officer to be charged in federal court.   read more

The U.S. Navy imposed a drinking ban on its 19,000 personnel in Japan on Monday, ordering them confined to their bases after a sailor who was thought to have been drinking was arrested on the island of Okinawa in connection with a car accident that left two Japanese civilians injured. The accident occurred at a tense time for the U.S. military in Japan. U.S. forces on Okinawa were already under curfew after a Marine veteran was arrested last month in connection with the killing of a local woman.   read more

"Ivory looks best on its original owners. Killing elephants and hacking off their tusks enriches terrorists, robs Africa of one of its great revenue-generators, and denies future generations the opportunity to see these iconic creatures. This is the right policy on so many levels," said Humane Society CEO Wayne. The new rule, to be published on June 6, is also the latest action implementing the President's 2013 Executive Order to combat wildlife trafficking.   read more

His brother describes Azam as an "innocent man" and a father of four who was the family's sole breadwinner. "In our view, both the (officials) who ordered and those who executed the drone strike are responsible for (killing) a man who had nothing to do with terrorism, who was a non-combatant," said Azam's uncle. He said his nephew's death had broken the family, and that as well as caring for his children, Azam was supporting a disabled brother and his mother, who is blind.   read more

Federal courts don't have authority to decide if the government has an obligation to evacuate 26 U.S. citizens stranded in war-torn Yemen, a judge ruled Tuesday. Those citizens sued Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of Defense Carter, saying the government ignored them while ordering diplomats and military personnel to flee the war-ravaged country. While the State Dept issued a travel warning and acknowledged danger to Americans, it did nothing to evacuate U.S. citizens, the group claimed.   read more

Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria's remarks are the strongest yet in a fight with the world's biggest drugmaker. The Colombian Embassy described intense lobbying pressure on Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally, from the pharma industry and its allies in the U.S. Congress. Gaviria said the pressure shows the forceful steps that big pharma is willing to take to protect its commercial interests. "They're very afraid that Colombia could become an example that spreads across the region," he said.   read more

Many ill people with a legitimate need for narcotic drugs cannot get them and are suffering and dying in pain. In Russia, India and Mexico, many doctors are reluctant to prescribe these painkillers, fearful of possible prosecution or other legal problems, even if they believe the prescriptions are justified. And in most poor and middle-income countries, these drugs are restricted and often unavailable, even for patients with terminal cancer, AIDS or grievous war wounds.   read more

Detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, could plead guilty to criminal charges in civilian court via remote videoconference under a provision being considered by the Senate that could open a new avenue to whittling down the prison’s remaining population. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced late Thursday that it had included the provision in the annual National Defense Authorization Act.   read more

Eight wolves were exported in 2014 as hunting trophies and another 26 gray wolf "garments were exported from the United States for circus or traveling exhibition purposes," according to the complaint. Bishop said that animal fur exporting is big business and that pelts and parts are used all over the world. "Some people have told me that it takes about 30 bobcat pelts to make a jacket, that it is popular in China or Russia, but I don't know a lot about the industry," he said.   read more

“[Tom and Jerry] portrays the violence in a funny manner and sends the message that, yes, I can hit him…and I can blow him up with explosives. It becomes set in [the viewer’s] mind that this is natural,” said Ambassador Abdel Sadek. Despite the SIS head’s statements, it does not yet appear that the government will actually take any steps to censor Tom and Jerry or video games. However, Egypt has had a history of censoring movies, primarily due to the sexual content depicted in some scenes.   read more

Wall Street has figured out a way to squeeze some extra income from these stocks. And German taxpayers pay for it. A spokesman for the German finance ministry called the transactions “illegitimate because their sole purpose is to avoid the legal taxation of dividends.” “Everybody and their brother was doing it in the U.S.,” said Elise Bean, who as subcommittee chief counsel helped lead the Senate’s investigation in 2008. “And I guess now everybody and their brother is doing it abroad.”   read more

Now that the U.S. government has acknowledged that Western-built chemical weapons sickened U.S. soldiers in Iraq, The New York Times says the CIA can no longer deny access to records about it. The Pentagon acknowledged that more than 600 U.S. soldiers had been exposed to sarin in Iraq. The CDC links the chemicals to burns, blisters, infertility, eye damage, scarring of the respiratory system, and cancer risk. The military denied medical care to soldiers who were wounded by these weapons.   read more