In a report on the FBI's handling of intelligence related to the September 11 attacks released Thursday, US Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine concluded that the FBI missed several opportunities to detect and prevent the terror strikes. In particular, the FBI failed to aggressively pursue an agent's theory that Osama bin Laden planned [...]

Head of Bolivia's Supreme Court Eduardo Rodriguez was sworn in as president of the country late Thursday after the Bolivian Congress accepted the second resignation of President Carlos Mesa . Bolivia's third president in less than two years, Rodriguez accepted the position only after the Speakers of both houses of Congress declined to exercise their [...]

The International Labour Organization (ILO) Thursday called for a ban on child labor in mines and quarries as the focus for the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12. The agency has urged labor unions, employers and governments to provide financial aid to small, family run mines in order to relieve their dependence on [...]

The Executive Director of Saudi Arabia's recently-formed National Human Rights Association (NHRA) said Thursday that the commission has received over 2000 valid complaints, roughly a third of which concerned prison abuse in the country. Dr. Lubna al-Ansari said most "have been processed and resolved, either through letters to officials or some sort of action." An [...]

Federal prosecutors Thursday explained their controversial decision earlier this week to reduce a proposed racketeering penalty against major tobacco companies from $130 billion to $10 billion, saying that they were focusing on future smokers who might become addicted if the tobacco companies' alleged behavior continues, rather than on those suffered from it by becoming hooked [...]

Former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor was approved for a permanent seat on the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday by a 53-45 floor vote in the US Senate. Pryor, who was temporarily seated on the Court of Appeals by a 2004 recess appointment , was another of a series of Bush judicial nominees [...]

Former Bank of America broker Theodore C. Sihpol was found not guilty Thursday of aiding a New Jersey hedge fund in illegally trading mutual funds after the close of the stock market. Sihpol was acquitted of 29 counts of larceny, securities fraud, and falsifying business records but State Supreme Court Justice James Yates declared a [...]

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning filed an appeal Thursday contesting a federal judge's May 12 ruling against the Nebraska same-sex marriage ban. The appeal was expected as Bruning had previously announced in a press release that he would oppose the decision . Nebraska's overthrown Defense of Marriage Amendment was enacted by 70 percent of voters [...]

Leading Thursday's international brief, 54 residents from a state-created squatter settlement on the northern border of Zimbabwean captal city Harare have taken their attempt to prevent the government from demolishing their homes to the nation's Supreme Court. Residents of the Hatcliffe Extension, which houses several hundred families and was created by the Zimbabwean government in [...]

Concluding a four-day party congress Thursday, Syria's ruling Baath party called for political reforms and a broadening of press freedom in an effort to move away from the emergency law in place since the party took power in 1963. Though an immediate abandonment of the emergency law is not expected, Baath party officials say that [...]