The Belgian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Rwanda has agreed to hand over Guy Theunis, a Belgian Catholic priest accused of helping incite the 1994 Rwandan genocide , to the Belgian government. Last month, Karel de Gucht , Belgium's foreign minister, formally requested that Theunis be transferred to Belgium to face trial for his alleged [...]
The South Korean Unification Ministry on Tuesday announced plans to repatriate up to 28 North Korean prisoners that have remained detained in the south following the Korean War . The "long-term prisoners" are mostly former spies and soldiers captured while in the southern part of peninsula. The move has triggered outrage among some in the [...]
UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke urged the UN on Tuesday to support Britain's efforts to deport suspected militants to countries believed to engage in torture. Clarke's made the call in response to statements UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak, who last month urged Britain not to deport any extremists to such countries. Britain is [...]
President Bush defended his latest pick for the US Supreme Court on Tuesday after some leading conservatives questioned the judicial philosophy of White House counsel Harriet Miers . Bush told reporters that Miers "shares my philosophy that judges should strictly interpret the laws and the Constitution of the United States, and not legislate from the [...]
Former head of Russia oil giant Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced Tuesday that he would file a second appeal of his conviction on fraud and tax evasion charges. Last month, a Moscow appeals court rejected Khodorkovsky's initial appeal , but reduced his nine-year sentence by one year. In this second stage of the appeals process , [...]
The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) urged Indonesia on Tuesday to study the cases of about 100 prisoners who may have been overlooked in a sweeping grant of amnesty to more than 2,000 members of the Free Aceh Movement . The grant of amnesty was a pivotal issue in the historic peace accord signed in August. [...]
The UN-affiliated Special Court for Sierra Leone wrapped up a pledging conference by receiving $10 million from UN member states, but fell more than halfway short of the tribunal's $25 million goal. The $25 million is the amount needed to continue trying those accused of committing serious crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war in the [...]
Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti announced Monday that six hospitals, including the state's major public hospital, Charity Hospital, and thirteen nursing homes are under investigation to determine whether they mishandled evacuations, abandoned, or euthanized patients when help did not arrive quickly following Hurricane Katrina . At least 140 elderly patients are believed to have died [...]
The European Union imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan Monday for refusing to investigate the deadly suppression of a May uprising . The sanctions, which include suspending a cooperation accord, imposing an arms embargo, cutting aid to the country, and banning responsible Uzbek officials from traveling to Western Europe, stem from the violent suppression of a protest [...]
The US has circulated a draft UN resolution calling for the UN's peacekeeping force in Liberia to arrest former Liberian president Charles Taylor if he tries to return from his exile in Nigeria. The resolution would extend the mandate of the 15,000 member peacekeeping force to apprehend Taylor without additional approval and transfer him to [...]
