Parliamentarians of the Council of Europe , often referred to as Europe's human rights watchdog body, have approved a resolution which condemns crimes committed by communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War . The Council's Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday labeled the crimes as "massive violations of human rights" and agreed that [...]

The Seoul High Court on Thursday ordered Dow Chemical and Monsanto to pay $65.2 million in damages for the negligent manufacture of defoliants used during the Vietnam War, including Agent Orange . The money is to go to over 20,000 Korean veterans who were exposed to the chemicals. Dow and Monsanto settled a 1984 US [...]

In a press conference Thursday, US President George Bush continued his administration's defense of the controversial domestic surveillance program , saying the program is legal and indicating that he may resist proposals by Congress to change it. Responding to a question on the surveillance program, Bush said: There's no doubt in my mind it is [...]

A high-ranking Canadian MP likely to be named to a Cabinet position in the new Conservative party government of Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper said Wednesday that the party would honor its campaign pledge to arm Canadian border guards after an incident in British Columbia on Tuesday, when some unarmed guards with the Canadian Border Services [...]

President Bush Wednesday met with a group of former law clerks to Judge Samuel Alito , describing them as people with a "wide range of political views", all of whom support Alito's nomination to the US Supreme Court. Addressing the press afterwards, Bush said: … he has the strong support of all 54 of his [...]

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke was pressured by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to ban two Islamic parties in Great Britain after the July 2005 London bombings , according to civil service e-mails leaked to a British magazine. The e-mails indicate that Blair wanted to ban the radical Islamic party Hizb-ut-Tahrir and an affiliated party, [...]

A federal judge has said that the government must turn over documents detailing what the US knew before the Sept. 11 attacks to defense lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui , in an order made public on Wednesday. In 2005, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the attacks. The sentencing phase will begin next [...]

The Supreme Court of Japan Thursday rejected an appeal by six smokers who sued the Japanese government and a cigarette maker for illnesses they claim were caused by their smoking habits over a 33- to 50-year period. Japan's high court affirmed a 2003 lower court ruling that acknowledged smoking was hazardous to an individual's health [...]

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and members of his Fatah party Cabinet submitted their resignations Thursday after initial results from Wednesday's Palestinian parliamentary elections – the first in ten years – appeared to give the militant Hamas movement a majority of seats in the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council . Official results will be announced [...]

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) , ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to clarify the steps being taken to protect the privacy of American citizens after a Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoena for information about internet searches from Google and other Internet search engines was made public. In [...]