Belgium has become the first country in the world to ban the manufacture and use of cluster bombs following passage of legislation by a sound majority of its lower house of parliament. The legislation had already passed in the upper house of parliament last July. Human rights organizations such as Handicap International (HI) and Human [...]

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has again said that his country refuses to extradite any Sudanese citizens for prosecution by the International Criminal Court . In remarks made during this weekend's celebration of the golden jubilee of the Sudanese Judiciary, al-Bashir said that only Sudan had jurisdiction over war crimes suspects in cases stemming from the [...]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said Sunday that existing legislation governing domestic surveillance does not need to be rewritten or updated. Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation, Frist also said that he believed that the National Security Agency does not need to obtain a court order before engaging in domestic eavesdropping under the [...]

The French, German, and British ambassadors to the US on Sunday called for the United States to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, with French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte going so far as to call the facility "an embarrassment." The critical remarks come on the heels of a UN report alleging that some detainees have been [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, the Israeli Cabinet has agreed to impose a hefty series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless the ruling party of Hamas commits to non-violence and drops its call for the destruction of Israel. Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet that Hamas' majority status in the Palestinian [...]

Former US Navy General Counsel Alberto J. Mora warned the Pentagon as early as 2002 that legal arguments advanced by Bush administration officials seeking to avoid international prohibitions against torture were wrong and could lead to the abuse of detainees. In a memo dated July 7, 2004 obtained by the New Yorker magazine and disclosed [...]

National Air Traffic Services , the UK's air traffic control provider, have reported that three CIA flights possibly involved in rendition landed at British airports and received assistance from UK air traffic control since 2001. The admission by the civil aviation body in response to parliamentary questions is said to be the first acknowledgement of [...]

English Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith has told top British military officers that British soldiers will not appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges. The statement, the government's first assertion that British troops will not be forced to stand trial in front of the new Hague-based international criminal tribunal, comes amidst new allegations [...]

Saddam Hussein could be put to death by hanging within months if he's convicted in his first trial, according to the chief prosecutor for the Iraqi High Criminal Court, formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal . In an interview reported in the London Sunday Times, Ja'afar Moussawi said that a new Iraqi law mandates that death [...]

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi , facing possible indictment for allegedly bribing his former lawyer to give false testimony in two criminal cases, told supporters at a campaign rally in Verona Saturday that the case against him is "…without proof, completely baseless, which however has become a media and political fact," according to the Italian [...]