The Vatican revised its in-house rules to deal with clerical sex abuse cases Thursday, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children and doubling the statute of limitations for such crimes.
Abuse victims said the rules are little more than administrative housekeeping since they made few substantive changes to current practice, and what is needed are bold new rules to punish bishops who shield pedophiles.
Vatican: attempted ordination of women is a "grave crime"
Ex-Justice official: CIA interrogators used unauthorized techniques on detainees
CIA interrogators exceeded legal limits on harsh interrogations of al-Qaeda detainees during the Bush administration, according to a former top Justice Department official who was interviewed by congressional investigators.
House Democrats said Thursday that Jay S. Bybee, who headed the department's Office of Legal Counsel, told them in May that he never approved a number of interrogation techniques used on detainees in CIA custody. Techniques his office did approve -- such as waterboarding, the simulated drowning of terror suspects -- were used too many times on detainees, Bybee told investigators.
U.S. paid Iranian nuclear scientist $5 million for aid to CIA
The Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA before departing for his homeland Wednesday was paid more than $5 million by the agency to provide intelligence on Iran's nuclear program, U.S. officials said.
Shahram Amiri is not obligated to return the money but might be unable to access it after breaking off what U.S. officials described as significant cooperation with the CIA and abruptly returning to Iran. Officials said he might have left out of concern that the Tehran government would harm his family.
Police suspect alleged Jewish terrorist killed four Palestinians
A right-wing Israeli extremist arrested this week over a string of stabbing attacks is suspected of murdering four Palestinians and attempting to murder another seven, according to details of the investigation released on Thursday.
Chaim Pearlman was arrested Tuesday, initially on suspicion of carrying out two murders in 1998, and for a series of attacks on other Palestinian victims over the last 12 years. The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended his remand by six days.
Israelis convicted in bound Palestinian's shooting
An Israeli lieutenant colonel and one of his soldiers were convicted Thursday in the shooting of a bound and blindfolded Palestinian demonstrator.
The Palestinian had been detained in July 2008 at a violent protest against Israel's West Bank separation barrier. Video taken by a local resident showed the soldier firing a rubber-coated bullet from close range at the feet of the Palestinian man, whose hands were tied behind his back. The Palestinian's toe was bruised.
Argentina approves gay marriage
Argentina has become the first Latin American country to allow gay couples to marry and adopt children, defying Catholic opposition to join the ranks of a few mostly European nations with similar laws.
Argentina's Senate passed a gay marriage law early Thursday following more than 14 hours of charged debate, as hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the Congress in near-freezing temperatures. Senators voted 33-27 for the proposal, with three abstentions.
Court strikes challenge to DC gay marriage law
D.C.'s highest court has ruled against opponents of the city's same-sex marriage law, saying they cannot ask voters to overturn it. Opponents had wanted to challenge a law that took effect in Washington in March allowing same-sex couples to marry. They attempted to get approval to put an initiative on the ballot asking city voters to define marriage in the city as between one man and one woman.
Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise
When the freeze was announced, it came with the assertion that some 3,000 units were grandfathered in and would proceed during the moratorium.
David Ha’Ivri, spokesman for the Shomron Regional Council in the northern West Bank, said the leader of the council, Gershon Mesika, knew a freeze was coming and so approved more than 1,600 units in 2009, nearly 10 times the number that had been approved the previous year for his area.
Court rules torture lawsuits against UK continue
Former Guantanamo detainees can proceed with lawsuits accusing Britain of complicity in torture overseas, a High Court judge ruled Wednesday, rejecting a government request to suspend the action.
Britain had asked a judge to direct the six men, and six others who plan to launch similar cases, to halt their lawsuits and focus on reaching out of court settlements, allowing an independent inquiry into the accusations to begin.
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