US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued a new six-month drilling moratorium on Tuesday, citing new evidence regarding safety concerns after the BP oil spill . Unlike the previously ordered moratorium, this one is not based on the depths at which drilling occurs. Instead, the moratorium affects drilling with specific technologies, although the applicable technologies are [...]

Italian police on Tuesday arrested more than 300 individuals and seized millions of euros worth of assets in a countrywide raid on the ‘Ndrangheta crime organization. The predawn operation, dubbed “Il crimine,” the largest such action in 15 years, involved more than 3000 police in numerous provinces, but most arrests were concentrated in the southern [...]

The Afghan cabinet on Monday approved a bill that would allow high-ranking government officials to stand trial on charges of corruption. Under the bill the Afghan judiciary would be empowered to establish special tribunals which would hear the cases of high-ranking government officials accused of corruption. Under current Afghan law, government ministers are immune from [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on the Afghan government to protect the rights of women during integration and reconciliation efforts conducted with the Taliban and other militants. In a report, Ten-Dollar Talib , the human rights organization criticized recent actions taken by the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to end the ongoing [...]

The Canadian Department of Justice on Monday announced that it will appeal a court ruling ordering the government to provide Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr with a list of remedies to ameliorate its breach of his constitutional rights. Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Canada held that Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, has [...]

The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs on Monday began negotiating a treaty to regulate the arms trade and prevent guns from entering conflict zones. The Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) , established following a 2008 report by the Group of Governmental Experts, has been examining the scope and draft parameters of a 2006 resolution [...]

A group of lawyers on Monday filed a complaint with a Morocco prosecutor seeking the arrest of several high ranking Israeli officials over their involvement in Operation Cast Lead . The complaint names former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for violating anti-terror laws and laws [...]

The Chinese government instituted new regulations Sunday requiring a wide variety of government officials to disclose to the state details about their personal finances and the legal statuses of their family members. The new regulations , which apply to county-level and higher-ranking political officials, party officers and employees of public institutions and state-held business entities, [...]

The UK Woolwich Crown Court on Monday sentenced three British Muslims charged in connection with a 2006 plot to blow up numerous transatlantic flights to life in prison. Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zahman were part of a conspiracy to detonate liquid bombs hidden in soft drink bottles on airliners bound for the [...]

An Israeli military probe found insufficient intelligence and planning in the May 31 raid on several Turkish ships bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip in a report released Monday , but also concluded that no punishments were necessary. The Eiland Commission, which was formed last month to investigate the raid, was composed of professionals outside [...]