A UN General Assembly committee on Thursday approved a resolution that reasserted the UN's concern over the alleged human rights violations occurring in North Korea . In passing the resolution, the committee expressed its "serious concern" over the allegations of torture, public executions, oppression of speech and religion, and other human rights abuses in that [...]

Lawyers for Morgan Tsvangirai , opposition leader in Zimbabwe , on Thursday petitioned that country's high court to hear Tsvangirai's legal challenge to President Mugabe's 2002 election victory. As leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Tsvangirai ran against Mugabe for the presidency in 2002 and lost. Thursday's appeal to Zimbabwe's high court followed [...]

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald on Thursday announced criminal fraud charges against Conrad Black and three other executives at Hollinger International related to the $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers and alleged abuse of corporate perquisites at Hollinger. The 11-count indictment charged Black with evading taxes in Canada and cheating shareholders in both Canada [...]

The permanent judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday held an Extraordinary Plenary Session to elect the successor to Theodor Meron, whose term as president of the Tribunal expires Thursday. The judges elected Italian Fausto Pocar as President of the Tribunal, and Australian Kevin Parker as Vice-President. Outgoing president Meron [...]

A spokesman for Austria's Interior Ministry said Thursday that British historian David Irving has been arrested on a warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. Irving has argued in his books that the scale of the extermination of the Jews during World War II has been exaggerated and has claimed Hitler knew nothing of the [...]

An Article 32 hearing has commenced for US Army Second Lt. Erick J. Anderson, accused of murder for his role in the death of an Iraqi teenager who was suffering from severe wounds in the aftermath of a US attack, to determine whether he should face court-martial. Two soldiers in Anderson's platoon, Staff Sgts. Johnny [...]

Paul Bisengimana, former mayor of the Rwandan town Gikoro, pleaded guilty Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on charges related to the country's 1994 genocide . Bisengimana was initially charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, rape, torture and other inhumane acts [...]

Lawyers from the US Department of Justice recommended that the department reject Georgia's new voter-identification law , but were overruled by higher-ranking DOJ officials, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. Four of five staff members reviewing the Georgia law, as part of the review process required under the 1965 Voting Rights Act for [...]

Two US soldiers will face court-martial proceedings for striking two detainees in their custody at Forward Operating Base Ripley in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, the US military said Thursday. Army Sgt. Kevin D. Myricks and Army Spc. James R. Hayes face multiple charges including conspiracy to maltreat, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees and assault consummated [...]

The European Parliament approved a legislative package Thursday which will allow safety-testing for thousands of chemicals used in everyday products. The Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals Act (REACH) calls for the registration of approximately 30,000 chemicals produced or imported in the European Union. Authorization would be required for use of those chemicals causing high [...]