The Turkish Grand National Assembly passed a bill Thursday that prohibits smoking in government buildings, offices, bars and restaurants, and imposes stiff penalties for noncompliance. People caught smoking in designated non-smoking areas could be fined 50 Turkish...
The CIA made plans to destroy videotapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects as early as 2003, according to correspondence made public by US Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) Thursday. In a February 2003 letter...
The US has rejected a Japanese request that any fuel provided to US ships as part of Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean not be used henceforth for military or humanitarian relief operations in Afghanistan, sources told Kyodo...
China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) Thursday announced plans to phase out gunshot executions of condemned prisoners and instead switch to lethal injections . Court vice-president Jiang Xingchang said that lethal injection was a...
A new labor law that requires all Chinese workers to have written employment contracts went into effect on January 1 in China , Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The Contract Labor Law also gives Chinese workers the...
The US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has ruled that human rights organizations possess the same right to protect sources when reporting on human rights abuses as traditional journalists. Magistrate Viktor Pohorelsky [official...
China is imposing new controls on online videos, according to Chinese government websites Thursday. Under new regulations, videos will henceforward have to be posted on the websites of state-controlled companies. Websites will also be banned from...
An Indonesian court ruled Thursday that the trial of the head of Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah can proceed. A defense lawyer for Abu Dujana moved to dismiss the trial, arguing...
US District Judge Laura Swain Wednesday dismissed Spanish damage claims against the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a non-profit organization that inspects and certifies ships, in connection with a major 2002 oil spill. Spain had filed suit...
Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako called Thursday for an independent investigation of the disputed reelection of President Mwai Kibaki amid continued violent protests. In a public statement carried in the Nairobi Daily Nation newspaper,...