A report by three U.N.-appointed human rights experts Wednesday said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
UN experts: Israel flotilla raid broke int'l law
3,000 Man CIA Afghan Army Conducts Operations In Pakistan
The CIA created, controls and pays for a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary army of local Afghans, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. Woodward describes these teams as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.
Florida ban on gay adoption is illegal: court
There is no rational reason to prohibit all homosexuals from adopting children, a Florida appeals court said on Wednesday in a ruling that upheld a gay man's adoption of two young boys. Florida is the only remaining U.S. state to expressly ban adoption by gay men and women without exception, the ruling noted.
A lower court found in 2008 that the ban violated the state constitution's guarantee of equal treatment. It allowed the plaintiff, a gay man named Frank Martin Gill, to adopt two boys -- half-brothers he had been raising as foster children since 2004.
Polish Prosecutors to Probe C.I.A. Prison Acts
A Polish prosecutor says his office has opened an investigation into whether a Saudi man accused in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole was mistreated in a prison that the CIA allegedly ran in Poland.
Prosecutor Jerzy Mierzewski told The Associated Press on Wednesday that events surrounding Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri's detention will be handled as part of an ongoing investigation into Poland's involvement in the now-shuttered U.S. system of secret prisons around the globe. No charges have yet been filed.
Lawsuit: Bishop Eddie Long Coerced Men into Sex
Two men have filed a lawsuit accusing Bishop Eddie Long of exploiting his role as pastor of an Atlanta-area megachurch to coerce them into sexual relationships when they were members of his congregation.
Lawyers for the men, now 20 and 21, say they filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in DeKalb County Court. The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they were victims of sex crimes. Craig Gillen, Long's attorney, says the pastor "categorically denies the allegations."
MI6 consulted former foreign minister on torture
David Miliband gave MI6 the green light to proceed with intelligence-gathering operations in countries where there was a possible risk of terrorism suspects being tortured, the Guardian has learned. During the three years Miliband served as foreign secretary, MI6 always consulted him personally before embarking on what a source described as "any particularly difficult" attempts to gain information from a detainee held by a country with a poor human rights record.
While Miliband blocked some operations, he is known to have given permission for others to proceed. Officers from MI5 are understood to have sought similar permission from a series of home secretaries in recent years.
Winds could explain Biblical parting of the Red Sea
Computer simulations show how the movement of wind could have parted the waters of the Red Sea The parting of the Red Sea, as described in the Bible, could have been a phenomenon caused by strong winds, according to new computer simulations.
The account in the Book of Exodus describes how the waters of the sea parted, allowing the Israelites to flee their Egyptian pursuers. Simulations by US scientists show how the movement of wind could have opened up a land bridge at one location.
UN panel: Hamas, Israel failed to address Goldstone Gaza report
A group of United Nations experts has criticized Israel and Hamas for failing to conduct serious probes into alleged war crimes last year in the Gaza Strip. The fact-finding mission of Justice Richard Goldstone last year recommended that the sides conduct independent investigations into his report, which charged that war crimes may have taken place during the 2008-2009 conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Addressing Israel's reaction to the findings of the Goldstone report, the panel blamed Israel Tuesday of only investigating low-ranking officials, adding that the inquiries didn't meet standards of impartiality.
Vatican Bank Officials Under Investigation
Just when the Catholic Church didn't need another scandal, Italian magistrates have frozen $30 million from the Vatican bank and are investigating top bank officials for alleged violations of European money laundering rules.
The Vatican said Tuesday it was "perplexed and surprised" and expressed full trust in bank Chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and director-general Paolo Cipriani.
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