China is increasing its control over human rights activists and other political dissidents ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympics , Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday. HRW says that leaders in the Communist Party of China (CPC), fearing potential embarrassment brought on by activists highlighting political and social problems, have also attempted to silence independent [...]
A senior Thai Justice Ministry official said Thursday that Thailand will renew a probe into the anti-drug campaign of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during which close to 2,500 people were killed. Thaksin's war on drugs began in 2003 and gained great support from rural voters. The investigation will be headed by former Thai [...]
A military court-martial jury Thursday found US Marine Corps Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III guilty of murder for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania . Hashim Ibrahim Awad was removed from his residence and killed. His body was subsequently arranged with a shovel and firearm to [...]
The US Senate voted 83-14 in favor of a new ethics bill that will require congressmen and other officials to make public additional information about money involving personal projects and lobbies. The legislation also bans gifts from lobbies to lawmakers, and requires former senators and House-members to wait two years and one year respectively before [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held Thursday that insurance policies held by many victims of Hurricane Katrina did not cover flood damage caused by the storm. Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Carolyn King said that flood damage was excluded from coverage provided by a range of defendant companies and that [...]
Chinese Communist Party discipline commission spokesman Gan Yisheng said Thursday that China's use of capital punishment in political and economic corruption cases is appropriate and effective. Gan justified the punishment saying that it had "been endorsed by the Chinese people and also recognized by the international community." In July, China executed former State Food and [...]
The Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice Wednesday suspended an order issued by the government's telecommunication commission requiring Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) to register as a "national audiovisual production service" or face shutdown after agreeing to hear a case on whether cable and satellite television channels are obligated to transmit government-mandated content. The Chamber of Subscription [...]
The US House Judiciary Committee approved new legislation on Wednesday shielding reporters from being compelled to disclose confidential sources. Under the bill, journalists could not be forced by prosecutors to reveal their informants unless a court determined that the public interest in disclosure outweighed the public interest in news gathering. Committee chairman Rep. John Conyers [...]
The UK Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) issued a report Thursday on the shooting death of Jean Charles de Menezes , an innocent Brazilian man mistaken for a terrorist by police in July 2005, clearing London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair of any misconduct but concluding that Assistant Commissioner Andrew Hayman misled his colleagues and [...]
China's Shanxi province High People's Court announced the conviction of 31 defendants in 18 separate trials for their involvement in the use of slave labor at various brick kilns in the Shanxi and Henan provinces Thursday. The defendants were sentenced to between two to five-years in prison. Four government officials, convicted of dereliction of duty [...]
