The US House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill Tuesday to deny retirement pensions to any member of Congress "convicted of any of certain offenses," including fraud, bribery and perjury. Currently, federal lawmakers can only be stripped of their benefits for treason or espionage. The new legislation, passed by a vote of 431-0 , adds [...]

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday that he was unaware of a US offer to release Guantanamo Bay detainee Murat Kurnaz , a German-born Turk, to Germany in 2002 notwithstanding a finding by a committee of the European parliament investigating CIA activity in Europe that Germany refused the offer, extending Kurnaz' detention for three [...]

The US District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday postponed the scheduled sentencing of former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Dr. Lester M. Crawford until February 27. Crawford previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of conflict of interest and false writing in October. Crawford's lawyer and representatives from the US Attorney's Office [...]

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has upheld a prior ruling to shut down the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society , a small NGO that reported on human rights violations and disappearances in the Northern Caucasus. The group was first shut down in October after a lower court applied a controversial law supported by President Vladimir [...]

The Iraqi High Tribunal heard more tapes on Tuesday in which the voice of defendant Ali Hassan al-Majid vowed to "leave no Kurd who speaks the Kurd language" and to "wipe them out." The genocide trial of al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein known to the Western media as "Chemical Ali," resumed last week. Following [...]

A European Parliament (EP) special committee adopted a report Tuesday alleging that some EU nations knew about CIA activity in Europe including the existence of secret flights and CIA-operated secret prisons . The European Parliament committee on CIA activities in Europe (TDIP) concluded according to an EP press release that "over one thousand CIA-operated flights [...]

Thirty Democratic members of the North Carolina General Assembly urged Gov. Mike Easley on Tuesday to implement an immediate suspension of all state executions until an investigation shows that the state's execution protocol meets constitutional standards so as not to amount to cruel and unusual punishment. State senators are also expected to submit a bill [...]

The office of Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz said Tuesday that there is enough evidence to indict Israeli President Moshe Katsav on various charges, including rape, sexual harassment, abuse of power and obstruction of justice . Formal charges, however, can only be made once a hearing is held in which Katsav will be allowed to [...]

The trial of former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby began Tuesday as the prosecution and defense attorneys delivered opening statements in the CIA leak case . Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald told the jury in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that when Libby was asked about an alleged leak [...]

A military judge in Israel on Tuesday ordered the release of Imam Fawaz Damra, former leader of Ohio's largest mosque, the Islamic Center of Cleveland , claiming there was insufficient evidence to hold him. Damra's lawyer told AP that the release order came after the court refused to grant a prosecution request to extend his [...]