French President Jacques Chirac offered apologies Monday to 13 people who were wrongly convicted of pedophilia and spent 16-39 months in jail. Chirac called the convictions a "judicial disaster without precedent" and said he would personally see that a thorough investigation is conducted and charges brought against the appropriate people. Six of the convictions were [...]

Liberia's president-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf , soon to becomethe first female president of an African state, vowed Monday that all rapists will be appropriately punished during her presidency according to a new law. The country's parliament passed legislation Thursday making individual rapes illegal for the first time in Liberia . Rapists can be sentenced to between [...]

The Texas judge presiding over the trial of Rep. Tom DeLay has thrown out conspiracy charges against the former GOP House Majority Leader but has refused to dismiss money laundering charges . AP has more. ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: Tom DeLay's Challenge to Texas Grand Jury Process

The United Nations envoy to Cambodia has reported that human rights violations in the nation are widespread, and called for greater UN involvement to help persuade the government to comply with UN standards . Yash Ghai was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in November to review the status of human rights violations in Cambodia. [...]

UN investigators began questioning five Syrian officials in Damascus Monday as part of their ongoing investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri . Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to the questioning in late November , with the hope that it would correct numerous alleged errors in the UN probe that led to [...]

In an address to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Monday, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox called for "more streamlined" national accounting rules that are crafted to promote competition rather "than hinder it". Many argue that the accounting rules implementing by the commission following the 2001 Enron collapse and subsequent corporate fraud [...]

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposed anti-terrorism law is under more pressure for amendment after the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights Monday reported that currently-proposed provisions – such as the proposal that someone could be found guilty of inciting terrorist behavior regardless of intent – would be contrary to the European Convention on [...]

France's highest administrative body ruled Monday that Sikhs are permitted to wear their turbans in drivers' licence photos, overturning a case involving a Sikh who refused to take off his turban for the photo. The ruling by the Council of State could open the way for others, including Muslims wearing head scarves , to obtain [...]

The US military on Monday issued a statement acknowledging the death of a detainee, later revealed to be former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi . The statement said Zubaidi, one of Saddam Hussein's top deputies after the first Gulf War, died in US custody last week. Al-Zubaidi is generally considered responsible for the violent [...]

US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton Monday criticized the expected dismissal of Carina Perelli , chief of the UN's Electoral Assistance Division in charge of organizing and promoting free elections, just 10 days before December 15 elections in Iraq. Bolton told reporters that a probe into Perelli's department began in December 2004 and findings [...]