The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched a criminal probe into allegations that IDF troops used Palestinians as human shields during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank in late February. An AP reporter caught one February 25 incident on video ; the footage was subsequently broadcast on March 15. The IDF investigation was [...]

Ecuador's Supreme Court has upheld a 2006 ruling allowing charges against former Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa for mishandling debt negotiations worth billions of dollars while in office from 2000 until 2003. The Court held Wednesday that Noboa should be charged as an accessory after the fact for his handling of negotiations which cost the country [...]

A Philippine military tribunal sentenced 54 military officers to seven years and six months in jail Wednesday in connection with a failed mutiny in July 2003 in which 300 soldiers from elite special forces took over buildings in Manila in an effort to overthrow the government. More than 50 of the officers pleaded guilty to [...]

The International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) is developing a global treaty banning the further production of nuclear materials such as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. The IPFM, which is comprised of independent arms control experts from 15 countries, is working on a treaty and an analysis of the verification issues associated with the treaty that [...]

At least two Iraqi lawmakers were killed Thursday after a bomb exploded in the cafeteria of the Iraq parliament building. Saleh al-Mutlaq, head of the Sunni National Dialogue Front , said that party member Mohammed Awad died in the attack. Security officials have said that a second lawmaker was also killed and that at least [...]

George Christian, one of the librarians who in 2005 challenged a National Security Letter (NSL) ordering the release of computer records, told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution in testimony Wednesday that government power to probe private library records should be subject to some kind of review process before or after the fact. The [...]

An Australian court on Thursday ordered that former Serb commander Dragan Vasiljkovic be surrendered to Croatian authorities, and if Vasiljkovic's appeal of the decision is unsuccessful, Australia will extradite him to Croatia as requested last January. Vasiljkovic, arrested in Australia last year, is accused of torturing and killing Croat soldiers, civilians and prisoners of war [...]

A US bankruptcy judge on Wednesday ordered an independent audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego , which filed for Chapter 11 protection in light of some some 140 sexual abuse lawsuits currently pending against the diocese. The judge accused the diocese's lawyers of conspiring with the diocese to move funds into the [...]

Amnesty International Wednesday criticized Egypt for systematic human rights abuses of detainees in its police stations, military camps, and centers run by State Security Investigations (SSI). In a new report the international human rights organization said: Around 18,000 administrative detainees – people held without charge or trial under orders issued by the Interior Ministry – [...]

Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko announced Wednesday that he would freeze his controversial April 2 decree ordering the dissoluton of parliament and new elections on May 27 in an attempt to end a constitutional confrontation with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych . The freeze would allow parliament to continue operating, but early elections would be called on [...]