The Supreme Court of Belarus Friday ordered a former newspaper editor who had been had been sentenced to three years in prison for reprinting cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad to be released, his lawyer said. Alexander Sdvizhkov, former deputy editor of Belarus newspaper Zhoda, had been convicted of inciting religious hatred, but was released Friday [...]

US Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) has been indicted on charges that include extortion, money laundering, and wire fraud in connection with a complex land scheme, according to an indictment released Friday at a Phoenix press conference . If convicted, Renzi could face thousands in fines and prison time. Prosecutors allege Renzi used his position on [...]

The US government has granted final approval to the first stretch of "virtual fencing" , which will run for 28 miles along the US-Mexico border southwest of Tucson, Arizona, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday at a briefing on Immigration Enforcement and Border Security Efforts. The virtual fence, part of the Secure Border Initiative [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an internal probe into whether top department officials improperly approved the CIA's use of waterboarding , according to documents released Friday. The DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility investigation, which a DOJ spokesperson said has been ongoing for years, is part of a larger inquiry into the Bybee [...]

Turkish President Abdullah Gul Friday approved amendments to the country's constitution that will ease a current ban on Islamic headscarves in universities. Gul's office said in a statement that the amendments did not conflict with the country's "basic principles." Opposition parties have said they will appeal to the nation's Constitutional Court , and many critics [...]

The European Commission (EC) , the executive branch of the European Union, is still awaiting appropriate responses from Romania and Poland regarding allegations that they assisted the CIA in operating secret prisons for terror suspects, an EC spokesperson said Friday. The spokesperson said that Romania has sent a response, but that it was not complete [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Friday upheld the dismissal of a case brought by approximately three million Vietnamese plaintiffs against more than 30 American chemical companies for producing and supplying defoliants, including Agent Orange , that US forces used during the Vietnam war. The Court also ruled Friday in another defoliant [...]

David Bermingham, one of three British bankers known as the NatWest Three was sentenced to over three years in prison Friday after pleading guilty in November to one count of wire fraud. Bermingham, along with Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, was indicted on seven counts of wire fraud for entering into a secret agreement with [...]

The appeals chamber of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on Friday upheld the sentences of three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council who were convicted of crimes against humanity. In July 2007, the court sentenced Brima Bazzy Kamara to 45 years in prison, while Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu [...]

Delegates failed to agree on a binding treaty banning cluster bombs by the end of a five-day conference organized by Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) in New Zealand Friday, but have agreed to continue negotiations at a May conference in Dublin. By Friday, conference organizers said that 82 countries had signed the so-called Wellington Declaration , [...]