At least five people protesting the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish and other European papers were killed in Afghanistan Monday when security forces and police opened fire on demonstrators as the cartoons furor setting blasphemy against free speech reached global proportions. Two Afghans were killed outside the US airbase at Bagram [...]

A Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Monday that the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority violated the constitutional separation of church and state when it seized a woman's home to help Hope Partnership for Education , a religious group, build a private school. In a 4-3 decision , judges of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the seizure [...]

Russia's Chief Military Prosecutor on Monday told the Federation Council , the upper house of parliament, that approximately 6,000 people were abused by Russian military personnel last year and 2,600 soldiers were convicted of abusing other soldiers . Alexander Savenkov said that "beating has become a typical method of dealing with subordinates in the military," [...]

Zacarias Moussaoui was escorted from a Virginia courtroom Monday after an argument with US District Judge Leonie Brinkema during the first few minutes of jury selection in his sentencing trial . Moussaoui declared "I am al Qaeda" upon his entrance to the courtroom and informed the judge that his lawyers "do not represent" him. Judge [...]

A lawmaking committee in the Russian parliament is considering legislation to tackle the country's increasing problem with racism and extremism, according to the chairman of committee in the State Duma . The lower parliamentary house is reacting to recent events in Russia indicating an increase in extremist activity, including deadly attacks on dark-skinned foreigners and [...]

US Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Bush administration's controversial domestic surveillance program opened Monday with testimony from US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after senators argued over whether or not he should be given a sworn oath to tell the truth . A vote by the Republican-dominated committee resulted in no oath, and Gonzales proceeded [...]

An Italian prosecutor is seeking to put 17 former Nazi SS members on trial for participation in the 1944 massacre of 700 civilians in the town of Marzabotto in Bologna. Prosecutor Marco de Paolis has asked a judge in the town of La Spezia to add the officer and 16 enlisted men of the 16th [...]

Prosecutors at an appeals hearing in Arusha, Tanzania, Monday asked the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to overturn the genocide acquittals of two former Rwandan officials. One-time Rwandan Transport Minister Andre Ntagerura and Emmanuel Bagambiki , a civilian official in the Cyangugu Province, were acquitted in 2004 of genocide and crimes against humanity during [...]

A four-hour prison riot in Los Angeles County on Saturday was the result of racial tension, county Sheriff Lee Baca said Sunday. The riot, in which 2,000 inmates participated, took place at the maximum-security North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, California between black and Latino prisoners. One inmate was killed and over 40 injured. Officials [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, in one of the first public signs of division inside the Zimbabwean government of President Robert Mugabe , the Zimbabwean Attorney General and the Zimbabwean Registrar General have expressed sharp disagreement concerning the proposed draft of a parliamentary bill that would enable to government to seize the passports of individuals deemed [...]