German officials are in talks with their US counterparts for the release of a German-born man who has been held in Guantanamo Bay for almost four years. Murat Kurnaz , a Turkish national, was detained in Pakistan in 2001 on suspicion of terrorism and later handed over to US forces, arriving at Guantanamo in 2002. [...]

China Sunday issued it first guidelines on HIV/AIDS , banning discrimination against those infected by the virus and providing for free treatment. The new guidelines were promulgated in response to the already-large number of people with HIV/AIDS in the country – currently estimated by the government at 650,000 – and warnings by international experts that [...]

Insisting his was a country where freedom prevailed, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday expressly condemned a new ruling by Turkey's high administrative court that a teacher should be refused promotion because of her decision to wear a religious headscarf outside of her classes. Religious dress has been a controversial issue in Turkey, with [...]

The government of Yemen has announced it will prosecute the editors of three privately owned Yemeni newspapers, the Yemen Observer , al-Ra'i el-Am and al-Huriya, for offending Islam after the newspapers reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have prompted worldwide Muslim protests. The newspapers' licenses have also been suspended . The Yemen Observer reports [...]

Saddam Hussein chief defense counsel Khalil Dulaimi and an associate told reporters Sunday that Saddam and his seven co-defendants would begin a hunger strike Monday to protest the legitimacy of the proceedings against them but shortly thereafter retracted the statement, saying a strike was discussed but would not begin. Dulaimi told Reuters "We have now [...]

Britain's Ministry of Defense has said it will launch an investigation into video images published Sunday in the British News of the World tabloid which show British soldiers beating four young Iraqi men they detained after a street disturbance in southern Iraq in 2004. The video was apparently filmed by another soldier heard on audio [...]

A Council of Europe report to be officially released on Wednesday contains a scathing 200-page criticism of France's record on human rights. The report, based on inspections of prisons and police precincts in September 2005, cites a disparity in law and practice in France, referencing police brutality, overcrowded prisons, weak investigation into racially-motivated crimes, and [...]

The criminal investigation into government leaks which led to the New York Times' disclosure of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program is expanding, as federal agents have increased the number of interviews of law enforcement and national security officials. Those close to the investigation have suggested that the investigation may lead to a grand [...]

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced Saturday that Thailand will hold a national referendum on whether to amend the nine-year-old Thai Constitution April 19 in conjunction with the country's next Senate election. Thaksin, who has faced recent calls for his resignation, made the announcement prior to an anti-government demonstration expected to draw tens of thousands [...]

Military leaders in Myanmar on Saturday announced that Win Aung, Myanmar's former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , has been put before a special tribunal at the Insein jail to face charges of abusing his powers while he was in office. Aung held his position as foreign affairs minister until October 2004, when [...]