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At the 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention in Denver, Colorado former Republican Congressman Bob Barr (GA) was nominated as the presidential candidate for the party. He served in Congress from 1995–2003. Barr officially entered the race on May 12, two weeks before the convention amidst months of speculation. He won the nomination on the sixth ballot of the convention edging Mary Ruwart 324–276. Wayne Allyn Root was nominated as his running mate after losing on the fifth ballot and throwing his support to Barr. Barr's main opposition

A kindergarten teacher in Port St. Lucie, Florida, United States is being reassigned following an incident last week in which her students voted to remove a possibly autistic child from the classroom. According to school officials, Morningside Elementary School teacher Wendy Portillo held a vote in her kindergarten classroom concerning the removal of 5-year-old Alex Barton. The boy's mother, Melissa Barton, says her son is in the process of testing for Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism which can impair social skills and be

HMS Superb, a navy submarine from the United Kingdom, crashed into rocks in the northern half of the Red Sea on May 26. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) released a statement saying, "there were no casualties and the submarine remains watertight, is safe on the surface and able to operate under its own power." The MoD also said that "the submarine's nuclear reactor is completely unaffected, and there is no environmental impact." BBC News has reported that an investigation will be launched to discover the cause of the incident. According to th

A New Jersey state appeals court ruled Tuesday that fifteen Spanish citizens can sue over claims of health issues related to asbestos exposure while working aboard United States Navy and Coast Guard ships docked at United States-Spanish military installations. The defendant, Ohio-based company Owens Illinois, Inc., had sought a trial in a Spanish court, an opinion which was shared by the Superior Court that had heard the case earlier. The three-judge panel appellate court overturned the decision of the Superior Court in a 3-0 ruling. The Spani

According to a NASA status report, the lone toilet on the International Space Station (ISS) has broken, leaving the astronauts on board having to use a rigged-up system of bags to collect any liquid waste. According to NASA, the collection fan motor broke sometime last week after one of the crew used the Russian-made toilet in the space station. The NASA status report quotes the crew as hearing "a loud noise and the fan stopped working". Russian officials have yet to solve the cause of the breakage and fix it. The seven-year old toilet has

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that an international treaty aimed at banning the use of cluster bombs is "very close" to being achieved. It is hoped that many other countries, whether present at the talks or not, such as the United States and Canada, will sign up to the treaty. Cluster bombs have been used in countries such as Cambodia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon. More than 100 countries and multiple humanitarian organisations have supported a ban on their use, as they can remain dangerous for many years after being dropped

One of the children, who on April 6 was removed from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Texas, has been reunited with his/her parents after a deal was struck between the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and the parents. Although the Texas authorities retain legal control over the child, the parents have been given the temporary right to look after their child. Dan Jessop, one of the parents, commented on the development. "It's one step closer to my family being together." 401 al

A new memorial opened in Berlin on Tuesday in honor of homosexual victims of the Nazis. The monument also aims to address the discrimination towards and social stigma surrounding homosexuality in today's society by confronting visitors with an image of a same-sex couple kissing. The monument is a sloping gray concrete slab on the edge of Berlin's Tiergarten park, which echoes the vast field of smaller slabs that make up Germany's memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust, opened three years ago across the road. Nazi Germany declared homosex

Danish national goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen is ready to leave Aston Villa after four years with the club. Sørensen rules out extending his current contract with the club, saying: "It would be the strangest thing I have ever experienced. If Martin O'Neill called me and offered me a contract, I would not sign it. It is over." Currently, Thomas Sørensen is home in Denmark for friendlies against the Netherlands and Poland next week. Speaking to Danish Ritzau, Sørensen said: "We are in talks with several clubs. So that's positive. I am not nervou

Maxime Bernier, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, resigned after it was revealed that he left classified materials at an insecure location. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Bernier's resignation in Ottawa on Monday. Bernier was once in a relationship with Julie Couillard, whose previous associations with the controversial Hells Angels biker group were reported in recent months. In an interview with French-language television network TVA, Couillard indicated that Bernier left behind some designated secret documents at her residence.

The FIFA Executive Committee decided to suspend the Iraqi Football Association as of May 26, 2008, following government interference. The Iraqi Government dissolved the Iraqi National Olympic Committee and all national sport federations, including the Iraqi Football Association. The suspension for Iraq is from all tournaments for 12 months. The FIFA Executive Committee will recommend the suspension to the FIFA Congress, which meets in Sydney on Friday, but left the door open for a reprieve if Baghdad reversed its decision by May 29 at 4:00 PM

Google, the owners of YouTube, claimed in a court briefing today that the one billion dollar lawsuit against the company "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information." Viacom Inc. is suing Google over 150,000 videos, for which Viacom owns the copyright, that were allegedly being shown on YouTube. Google has responded by saying that they followed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prevents companies from being prosecuted if they bring down copyrighted content as soon as they are made aware of