Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel on Thursday requested a death sentence for Nurpashi Kulayev , the sole surviving attacker from the September 2004 Beslan school siege . Kulayev has pleaded not guilty to terrorism and murder charges and denied killing anyone during the attack. Kulayev will not likely be executed since Russia placed a [...]

American International Group (AIG) , one of the world's largest insurance companies, has agreed to pay $1.64 billion to settle fraud, bid-rigging and improper accounting charges, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced on Thursday. The settlement, which does not include former chairman and CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg , ends civil litigation against the insurance [...]

US military forces are increasing efforts to establish a proper professional police force in Iraq , but it will take time to overcome issues in the current force including corruption, low morale, and incompetence, according to the US commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq . Gen. George Casey, Jr. said he nonetheless expects to [...]

EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said in an interview published Thursday that the EU may draw up a new media code of conduct to forestall any repetition of the global controversy now raging over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in European newspapers. Speaking to the London Telegraph newspaper, he noted [...]

A Zimbabwean court has set aside a decision by country's media commission not to license the Daily News newspaper. The newspaper was ordered to stop publishing in 2003 for criticizing the government. In March 2005, the country's supreme court overturned the original ban , but the media commission twice denied their application for a license. [...]

The trial of Ernst Zundel on charges of incitement, libel and disparaging the dead in connection with denying the Holocaust resumed on Thursday in Mannheim, Germany after being put on hold last November . The judge had removed two members of Zundel's defense team at the time after one called Jews an "enemy people." On [...]

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko recommended to the Ukrainian Parliament that a committee be formed to draft a new constitution during his state of the union address on Thursday. Yushchenko has been in conflict with parliament after rejecting their vote to dissolve his government last month, and has criticized constitutional changes that have limited his authority [...]

The White House on Wednesday said it has serious concerns over parts of the proposed Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act , which is currently being debated in the US Senate . The bill, if passed, would establish a $140 billion fund financed by asbestos manufacturers, users, and insurers to pay claims brought by victims [...]

Officials from the joint UN-Cambodia Khmer Rouge Genocide Tribunal being set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders said Thursday that the first trials should begin in 2007. Though no specific trial dates have been set and the tribunal still has not secured all of its $56.3 million budget , UN trial coordinator Michelle Lee [...]

Racially-motivated riots again erupted at a Los Angeles County jail on Wednesday, leaving 22 inmates injured. The fighting at Pitchess Detention Center began when inmates at a group dorm were separated along racial lines. The violence was quickly brought under control, but then fights spread to other dorms. All seven Los Angeles County jails were [...]