The Israeli Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a controversial plea agreement for former Israeli President Moshe Katsav , in which Katsav was permitted to plead guilty to lesser sex charges in exchange for a suspended sentence and the dropping of rape charges brought against him in 2006. Under a deal criticized by women's and civil [...]

A Malaysian court Tuesday rejected a bid to free five prominent members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) , ruling that they were lawfully detained under Malaysia's controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) , which permits the government to detain suspects for two years without trial and to renew the detention indefinitely. The five were [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday challenging a Tennessee state law that requires convicted felons to pay "all outstanding legal financial obligations" before their voting rights are restored. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of three convicted felons who have completed their imprisonment terms, challenges Sections 40-29-202(b) and (c) [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that testimony from workers who suffered job bias but were not parties to a federal age discrimination case "is neither per se admissible nor per se inadmissible" under the Federal Rules of Evidence. The decision came in Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn , where the US Court of Appeals [...]

Russia is clamping down "on the freedoms of assembly and expression in the run-up to parliamentary and presidential elections," according to a report released by Amnesty International Tuesday. Amnesty expressed concern that authorities are harassing rights activists and journalists monitoring opposition demonstrations, and said that police have used violence in breaking up some opposition events [...]

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday ordered some 70 Internet service providers to restore access to video-sharing website YouTube , lifting an order issued last week blocking access over "blasphemous" posted on the site. The PTA issued a statement Monday explaining the order, saying it was in response to a movie trailer posted by [...]

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav , also known as Duch, visited the Choeung Ek "killing field" Tuesday as part of an on-site investigation by co-investigating judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) . The tribunal described the investigation as "a normal investigative action, the aim of which is [...]

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Monday that the FCC is "ready, willing, and able to step in if necessary" to ensure a proper balance is struck between consumer proponents of "net neutrality" principles and the telecommunication industry's interest in controlling the flow and content of Internet traffic over its networks. The [...]

British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies has ruled that Section 184.4 of the Canadian Criminal Code , which allows law enforcement officers to electronically intercept private communications in "exceptional circumstances" without court authorization, is unconstitutional because it violates "the fundamental freedom to be free from unreasonable search and seizure" protected by the Canadian Charter [...]

A federal jury in Hartford, Connecticut on Monday found five former insurance executives guilty of charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, false statements to the SEC, and mail fraud in connection with a scheme to falsely inflate the financial health of American International Group (AIG) , one of the world's largest insurance companies. Four of the [...]