The UK Ministry of Defense confirmed Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with an Iraqi teenage civilian who was paralyzed in an accidental shooting in Basra in 2003. The plaintiff, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, had filed a civil negligence action in the UK High Court after relocating to the [...]

At least 1200 people were executed worldwide in 2007, and 88 percent of those executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA, according to a report released Tuesday by human rights group Amnesty International. Saudi Arabia had the most executions per capita, and China had the highest total at [...]

A federal judge on Monday sentenced Samuel Israel, III, co-founder of collapsed hedge fund Bayou Group , to 20 years in prison. US District Judge Colleen McMahon also ordered Israel to make $300 million in restitution and forfeit interests in a $100 million account. In 2005, both Israel and Chief Financial Officer Daniel Marino pleaded [...]

UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith Monday urged the passage of a new anti-terror bill that would increase the number of days a terror suspect can be detained without charge to 42 days, up from the current limit of 28. The Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 also includes provisions creating a registry of convicted terrorists and making terrorism [...]

Bruce Selya , a senior circuit judge for the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has been designated as presiding judge of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review . The designation was made by US Chief Justice John Roberts , in an order dated March 27. The appointment will be effective [...]

Serbia plans to officially request that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) resume a probe into allegations that separatist Kosovo Liberation Army leaders were involved in trafficking organs taken from Serb prisoners during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo , Serbian government officials said Monday. Former ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has [...]

The US military said Monday it plans to release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein from custody Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the deputy commanding general for detainee operations, Multi-National Force–Iraq , signed the order approving Hussein's release after confirming that Hussein's conduct fell under Iraq's amnesty law , which was passed in February as [...]

Myanmar is completely ill-prepared to hold a national constitutional referendum as part of a democratic political transition, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told Reuters in an interview Monday. Myanmar's 45-member Referendum Holding Commission announced last week that it had scheduled the planned referendum for May 10, but Pinheiro said it was "surreal" [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday granted certiorari in two cases , including Van de Kamp and Livesay v. Goldstein (07-854) , in which the Court will consider the legal immunity of a prosecutor implicated in a wrongful conviction murder case. Convicted murderer Thomas Goldstein served 24 years in prison before being released in 2004 after [...]

Leftist legislators continued demonstrations Monday in both houses of the Mexican Congress to protest an energy reform bill sent by Mexican President Felipe Calderon to the Mexican Senate last week. Members of Mexico's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and several smaller parties object to certain provisions of the proposed oil bill, including one that would allow [...]