Amnesty International issued a scathing statement on Thursday condemning Israel and Lebanese political group Hezbollah for causing civilian deaths and taking hostages in violation of Geneva Convention protections. Israeli air strikes killed 40 civilians and injured 60 in southern Lebanon on Wednesday after Hezbullah crossed the Israeli border, kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing eight [...]

President Bush has agreed to sign legislation authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to review the NSA's controversial domestic spying program , US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. Specter has been negotiating a bill with the White House since June, when he threatened to subpoena administration documents related to [...]

A Chinese court has sentenced writer Li Yuanlong, a reporter for the Bijie Daily newspaper who wrote essays on websites banned by the Chinese government, to two years in prison for "inciting subversion of state authority," his lawyer said Thursday. Li pleaded not guilty during his May trial , after being charged in February. Reporters [...]

US Marshals took custody of three former NatWest bankers Thursday as the controversial extradition of the three British nationals went ahead as scheduled. Giles Darby, David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew will face seven counts of wire fraud for allegedly reaping around 1.5 million pounds each from a fraudulent sale of Enron stock. The three have [...]

US President George Bush has said he will tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that non-governmental organizations should be able to function "without intimidation" and that Russia needs to have an "active civil society" in private meetings between the two presidents during this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit in St. Petersburg. Russian NGOs have come [...]

US Sen. John Warner (R-VA) said Thursday that the White House should propose detainee trials legislation soon after the return of senior officials from the G-8 summit hosted by Russia this month. In comments during a US Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing , Warner also stressed that it is "absolutely imperative" that legislation be passed [...]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Thursday that Iran may stop allowing UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of its nuclear facilities and pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if international pressure to stop its nuclear program continues. Ahmadinejad's threat came shortly after key members of the UN Security Council announced that Iran's [...]

Belarus prosecutors have requested a six-to-10-year sentence for opposition politician Alexander Kozulin , who in March led what prosecutors say were unauthorized protests over the controversial re-election of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko . Prosecutors in the case said Wednesday that Kozulin's "guilt as a person dangerous to society is now fully established," while Kozulin was [...]

The European Union may resume talks with Serbia over the country's possible accession into the EU this fall, even if indicted war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic has not been arrested and handed over to the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) , according to European diplomats Thursday. Talks can resume if Belgrade shows convincing [...]

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe filed a complaint in a Texas federal district court on Wednesday alleging that former lobbyist Jack Abramoff , his associate Michael Scanlon and former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed defrauded the tribe by lobbying to close its Texas casino nine months after it opened in November 2001. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges [...]