UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak has said that Uzbekistan authorities continue to use torture , particularly against those who oppose the government, noting that he has evidence of systematic torture by police and security forces in the country. Nowak also criticized Germany for failing to arrest former Uzbek Interior Minister Zakir Almatov while [...]

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said Tuesday that corruption of its judicial system is one of the largest challenges Indonesia faces in attracting more investment. Wolfowitz said cleaning up the courts would help the country attract foreign investors and ensure economic growth. Wolfowitz, the former US deputy defense secretary, was speaking in Jakarta after meeting [...]

A series of speakers in the Arizona State Legislature offered stinging criticism in floor speeches Monday of demonstrators who marched in support of a chance for citizenship for illegal immigrants in the US. A group of Republican legislators said the protests were an assault on the "rule of law" and granting amnesty to illegal immigrants [...]

Leading Tuesday's international brief, Israel's cabinet has declared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be permanently incapacitated , marking the official end of the Sharon administration and opening the way for acting-PM Ehud Olmert to assume control of the administration as interim prime minister. Sharon was still considered the PM following his January stroke, but Israeli [...]

A medical officer in the UK's Royal Air Force has pleaded not guilty to charges that he failed to comply with a legal order for refusing to return to Iraq for a third tour of duty. Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith , who has dual British and New Zealand citizenship, refused to go back to Iraq [...]

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Tuesday denied that he received or read several cables which were sent by diplomats and trade officials to warn the Australian government that the country's leading wheat exporter was paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's former regime under the UN's now-defunct oil-for-food program . Downer joined Australian Trade Minister Mark [...]

The judge overseeing the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui ruled Monday that only the jury and other individuals present in the courtroom will be able to hear the cockpit tape of United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11 . In her order , US District Judge Leonie Brinkema wrote that "the [...]

A judge in Spain charged 29 individuals Tuesday for their involvement in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings . Judge Juan del Olmo charged five men with all 191 deaths in the bombings and 1,755 attempted murders, while 24 others were charged as accomplices. Over 100 suspects have been arrested throughout the investigation into the [...]

2005 Internet Crime Report, Internet Crime Complaint Center, April, 2006 . Excerpt: The IC3 report has outlined many of the current trends and patterns in Internet crime. The data indicates that fraud reports are increasing, with 231,493 complaints, in 2005, up from 207,449 complaints in 2004 and 124,515 in 2003. This total includes many different [...]

Democrats will ask a federal judge Tuesday to order Republican Party and White House officials to answer questions in response to a civil lawsuit alleging voter fraud committed during the 2002 New Hampshire phone jamming plot . During the trial of James Tobin , President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England who was convicted [...]