The Congolese government Friday denied allegations by Amnesty International that roughly 65 civilians were being detained and possibly tortured in the southeastern province of Katanga . The human rights organization said that the detainees were accused by the government of involvement in a succession plot to control resource-rich Katanga. Government spokesman Henri Mova Sakanyi admitted [...]

A judge in Paris investigating the disappearance of four French citizens during the dictatorial reign of Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Chile has renewed arrest warrants for Pinochet and 18 other members of the Chilean military. The warrants were renewed Wednesday for procedural reasons related to the judge's acquisition of the 2001 investigation. Among the French [...]

Citing a pattern of fraud at American International Group Inc. , the world's largest insurer by market value, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed suit against AIG, its former chief executive, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg , and its former chief financial officer, Howard Smith. The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court Thursday, alleges [...]

Reuters is reporting that the US military has begun an investigation into the shooting death Friday of an Iraqi inmate at Abu Ghraib prison . The army provided only a brief statement. "An Abu Ghraib detainee died from gunshot wounds May 27 at approximately 5am (0100 GMT) after being transported to a coalition medical treatment [...]

US District Judge James A. Redden ruled Thursday that the Bush administration distorted information to downplay the harm that 14 federal dams cause to the endangered salmon and steelhead of the Columbia and Snake rivers, neglecting its duty to protect the species. The ruling means that the issue will be sent back to the National [...]

Despite the recent campaign by French President Jacques Chirac to push the European Union constitution , thirteen successive polls indicate that the majority of French voters will vote "no" to the charter in a referendum this Sunday. While all 25 member countries must approve the constitution by either referendum or parlimentary vote, EU officials said [...]

News briefing on Koran mishandling allegations, Brigadier General Jay Hood, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, May 26, 2005. Excerpt: For the last 12 days, we have conducted an extensive inquiry into the allegations concerning mishandling of the Koran. From the beginning of the inquiry, I directed that we look into all alleged Koran mishandling [...]

The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was unable to come to a final agreement Thursday regarding an FBI proposal for increased power to seize records and mailings in terror investigations under the USA Patriot Act . In a nearly three-hour closed session the members of the committee debated the merits of the proposal and [...]

President Bush's languishing air pollution initiative received a boost on Thursday when the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to a request made months ago by the Senate to examine competing legislation. The President's plan, known as Clear Skies , failed in a Senate Committee vote in March 2005 when Democratic Senator Thomas R. Carper voted against [...]

The proposed European Union Constitution received overwhelming legislative approval in Germany Friday. With all but one of Germany's 16 states in support of the constitution, the final "yes" vote in the Bundesrat , the German upper house, was 66 of a possible 69. The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania abstained from the vote as a result [...]