UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women Yakin Erturk said Monday that the difficulties faced by Afghani women, from abusive child marriages to public executions ordered by local councils, are still dramatic problems that need to be addressed despite the passing of the strict Taliban regime. To combat these issues, Ertürk and her group are [...]

As part of a plea deal reached in April , Eric Rudolph was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1998 bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama . Rudolph has also pleaded guilty to three bombings in the Atlanta area, including an attack at the 1996 Summer [...]

AP is reporting that US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said that military trials of two suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay will resume as soon as possible and charges will be filed against eight other detainees. 2:25 PM ET – Rumsfeld's comments, made at a news conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister John [...]

Sunday's announcement that the Iraqi Special Tribunal has charged former dictator Saddam Hussein in connection with the 1982 killing of some 150 Shiites in the village of Dujail and statements by chief investigating judge Raed Jouhi that a date for the trial would be set within days have prompted concerns that insurgent violence will only [...]

After Chief Justice William Rehnquist's strong denial of retirement rumors Thursday made it clear that only one new US Supreme Court justice will be selected this summer, President Bush is said to be close to announcing a successor for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor . White House strategists have suggested that someone might be named [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on Monday upheld a 13-year jail sentence for Milan Babic , the wartime leader of Croatia's rebel Serbs who took part in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the early 1990s. Babic, who for a short time led the Krajina Serb republic after Croatia gained independence, had [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff has announced that the New Zealand government is currently investigating the possibility of bringing charges against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe before the International Criminal Court . Goff said that New Zealand was conducting its own investigation into Mugabe's actions in "Operation Murambatsvina" , the [...]

A British court has convicted Afghan warlord Faryadi Sarwar Zardad of torture and the taking of hostages in Afghanistan in what may be the first conviction of an individual by a UK court for crimes committed abroad, a doctrine generally known as universal jurisdiction . UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith , speaking about the trial, [...]

Egypt has extended the detention period for four leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood arrested in May after the group held nationwide protests for political reform. Hundreds of group members were arrested during protests in favor of multi-candidate presidential elections. The arrests have drawn criticism from human rights groups and the number of political detainees still [...]

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court blocked the extradition of a suspected al-Qaeda financier to Spain on Monday, ruling that the European Union arrest warrant against him violated his rights. Mamoun Darkazanli, charged with supporting and financing al-Qaeda activites, holds both Syrian and German citizenship. The court ruled that since German law prohibits the handover of its [...]