Thai Attorney General Phatchara Yutithamdamrong said Monday that he would seek a criminal trial against former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife regarding a 2003 land purchase by Pojamarn Shinawatra from the government-directed Financial Institutions Development Fund . Yutithamdamrong also recommended the seizure of the land, valued at approximately $23.7 million USD. The [...]

Dutch interrogators accused of prisoner abuse in Iraq were cleared Monday with the release of two government ordered reports that found no torture but did say that interrogation methods may have breached international conventions. The reports found that at least one of the prisoners was "pressured" through the use of sleep deprivation, excessive noise, and [...]

The judge presiding over the trial of 26 US CIA agents and two former Italian intelligence officials in the 2003 abduction and rendition of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr suspended the trial Monday until October 24, agreeing with the defense that the trial should not proceed until the Constitutional Court of Italy rules on [...]

Two generals pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that include torturing prisoners of war and destruction of their property during the Croatian War of Independence . Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi had originally been brought before the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) , however their case was transferred to the court [...]

The Superior Court of Quebec has ruled that some 20,000 cattle breeders can proceed with their class action lawsuit against the federal government of Canada for its handling of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) , otherwise known as "mad cow" disease . The suit, which could eventually include over 100,000 farmers, alleges that the Canadian government [...]

A White House spokesperson Sunday disputed claims by retired US Army Major General Antonio Taguba that President Bush "had to be aware" of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib before the photos of US interrogators abusing prisoners surfaced in April 2004, insisting that Bush first learned about the abuse on television. In an interview with [...]

Prominent human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said Sunday he expects detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay to be closed after US President George Bush leaves office next year, adding that the recent dismissal of military commission charges against detainees Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan were "another nail in the coffin for Guantanamo." Smith also [...]

The US Supreme Court handed down decisions in three cases Monday, including Credit Suisse First Boston v. Billing , where the Court held that federal antitrust laws do not apply to a case where investors filed a class action lawsuit against underwriters and institutional investors for their alleged manipulation of initial public offerings. The Court [...]

UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) chair Luis Alfonso de Alba urged the 47-member body Sunday to approve a series of reforms designed to mandate periodic review of all UN member states. De Alba called for the internal rules to be adopted by the conclusion of the 5th session of the Human Rights Council on Monday, [...]

The Japanese Supreme Court has rejected the appeals of Chinese nationals seeking compensation for being forced to work in Japan as slave laborers during World War II, ruling that Japan's 20-year statute of limitations barred their claims. The 42 original plaintiffs, only half of whom are still alive, filed suit in 1997 seeking compensation from [...]