The Philippines will investigate and eventually prosecute those responsible for extra-judicial killings, President Gloria Arroyo said Wednesday, one day after a visiting UN official released a report revealing a high number of such killings. On Tuesday, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston reported that his ten-day investigation showed that the [...]

Former Sierra Leone Defense Minister Sam Hinga Norman died of heart failure Thursday, several weeks before a verdict was due in his war crimes trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) , the Court announced Thursday. Norman, who passed away in a military hospital in Dakar, Senegal after being transferred there for medical [...]

A spokesperson for the US Army Criminal Investigation Command said Wednesday that it had found "insufficient evidence" to support allegations by former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan that he was tortured by US personnel following his arrest in 2003 after he reportedly refused to reveal certain information. Ramadan is currently facing a death sentence [...]

Canada's highest-ranking judges have criticized the Conservative government's changes to the regional panels that screen candidates for federal judgeships as a threat to judicial independence. The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) , made up of the chief justices and associate chief justices of Canada's superior courts, issued a statement Tuesday saying that "judges can continue to [...]

The new governor of Maryland testified before legislators Wednesday that the state's death penalty should be abolished because it is "inherently unjust," ineffective as a deterrent and a drain on resources. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) , who took office last month, appeared before two committees of the General Assembly that are considering bills to repeal [...]

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday asserted that his government will not issue a pardon to Australian Guantanamo detainee David Hicks if he is convicted by a US military commission. Howard, appearing on ABC's Lateline program, addressed remarks by opposition Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd , who claims that Hicks would not be presumed [...]

Tech giants Cisco Systems and Apple, Inc. have settled their trademark dispute over the use of the name "iPhone", the companies announced Wednesday. Cisco filed a lawsuit against Apple in mid-January, and under the settlement agreement both companies will share the "iPhone" name and explore opportunities for greater cooperation, possibly including development of collaborative projects. [...]

The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) , Mexico's primary left-wing political party, is planning to file a complaint with federal prosecutors against former Mexican President Vicente Fox for interfering in the country's 2006 presidential election on behalf of current Mexican President Felipe Calderon , PRD leader Javier Gonzalez said Wednesday. The complaint will allege [...]

A 50-year-old Iraqi woman has accused Iraqi forces of rape, an Iraqi official said Thursday, the second such accusation in a week. The attack on the Sunni woman and her two daughters allegedly occurred less than two weeks ago in the city of Tal Afar by four Iraqi soldiers, including one officer. An Iraqi official [...]

A federal judge declared Wednesday that an anti-Castro militant who allegedly was behind the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner will stay in jail pending trial on charges of lying on a naturalization application. Luis Posada Carriles , 78, a former CIA operative trained by the US for the failed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion, [...]