Approximately 50 British soldiers are facing court martial for murder, manslaughter, assault and other crimes in Iraq. The allegations against them are contained in secret military documents obtained by London's Sunday Telegraph . The documents show that almost 3 times the number of soldiers face charges than has been admitted by the British Ministry of [...]

A new World Health Organization-sponsored treaty aimed at preventing children from smoking and helping adults quit goes into effect Sunday , but its impact on the US remains to be seen. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control gives members three years to require strong health warnings on tobacco products and five years to ban advertising, [...]

Iraqi security forces say they have arrested Saddam Hussein's half-brother , the first top-level Baathist to be caught in a year. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan was number 36 (6 of diamonds) on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis , and the US government had a $1 million bounty on his head. It was unknown if any [...]

Peter Benenson , founder of the human rights group Amnesty International, died in Oxford, England on Friday after a long illness. He was 83 . Benenson set up Amnesty in response to a call for action in an article published in the British newspaper The Observer in 1961.

Riggs National Bank has agreed to settle a Spanish lawsuit . Spanish courts and the US Justice Department had investigated Riggs for allegedly laundering money for Pinochet. Riggs also paid a $25 million fine in May 2004 for failing to follow money-laundering laws and failing to report suspicious transactions, that time between Equitorial Gineau and [...]

African leaders lifted sanctions against Togo Saturday following the resignation of Togolese president Faure Gnassingbe late Friday evening. Gnassingbe's decision to step down came amid regional and international pressure for his resignation after he was put into power by the nation's military following the death of his father, President Gnassingbe Eyadema. The Economic Community of [...]

The US military has ordered the release of six more Guantanamo Bay and ordered a further 30 to remain in custody at the prison camp. The releases were ordered Friday after Combatant Status Review Tribunals determined the detainees were not "enemy combatants". The Pentagon says eighteen detainees have been ordered released so far, though only [...]

US Army Sergeant Kevin Benderman will face a general court-martial on charges of desertion and missing movement after he failed to report for his unit's deployment flight to Iraq on January 7, according to a military spokesman at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Benderman contends he became opposed to the war, and gave notice to his commanders [...]

Illinois lawmakers presented legislation Friday that could end the current state moratorium on executions. House Bill 2704 calls for "guilt beyond any doubt" to replace the current penalty phase standard in capital cases of "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Jurors would still find guilt or innocence under the reasonable doubt standard, but a death sentence [...]

A Yemeni appeals court Saturday upheld a death sentence against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , a Saudi militant suspected of being a close associate of Osama Bin Laden. Nashiri and fellow militant Jamal al-Badawi had received death penalties for their role in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole , but Badawi's sentence was later reduced [...]