I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby , the indicted former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, has established a fund to help pay for his defense against criminal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame , lawyers and people contacted about [...]

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Syria has invited German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, head of a UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , to visit Damascus to discuss cooperation between UN investigators and the Syrian committee investigating Hariri's murder , Syrian state media reported Wednesday. Security officials from both Syria and Lebanon were implicated in [...]

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A classified Central Intelligence Agency report issued in 2004 questioned whether certain interrogation tactics approved by the agency for use against terrorism suspects would violate the UN Convention Against Torture , current and former intelligence officials have reported. The previously undisclosed report by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson warned that procedures approved in 2002, while [...]

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The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted Resolution 1637 , extending the mandate of the 180,000-strong multinational force in Iraq for another year. The US-led force was originally authorized in May 2004 under UN Security Council Resolution 1546 and the mandate has since been renewed in six-month increments. The latest resolution, approved Tuesday, would instead [...]

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The Australian government is pushing forward with controversial anti-terror proposals despite criticism that arrests made earlier this week during a counter-terrorism swoop indicate the legislation is unnecessary. Although Parliament hastily approved an amendment last week at the urging of Prime Minister John Howard to allow for the prosecution of suspects without identifying a specific terrorist [...]

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