The US Supreme Court began its 2005 calendar Monday by turning down appeals on Florida gay adoption, liability of gun manufacturers, standards for nominating presidential candidates, Worldcom securities fraud, and a host of other issues in some 500 cases....

Trials of Coalition soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi detainees get under way Monday on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, opening arguments are set to begin at Fort Hood, Texas, in the trial of Spc. Charles Graner...

CBS News is reporting that CBS has ousted four people - three executives and a producer - for their roles in preparing and reporting a story on President Bush's National Guard service which was based on false documents. The...

An internal probe of the scandal-ridden UN Oil-for-Food Program has concluded that although the program was plagued by mismanagement, especially in the handling of contracts, there was no evidence of corruption on the part of UN officials. The probe...

Victorious Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas pledged to supporters in Ramallah late Sunday night that he would work towards securing the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Israeli officials, for their part, have already indicated they...

Two exit polls taken of voters in Palestine's presidential election indicate Mahmoud Abbas (official campaign website here) has won a landslide victory, taking at least 66% of the vote. AP has more. The official count is now underway after...

Palestinan election officials announced Sunday that the vote to choose a successor for late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat would be extended by two hours until 9 PM local time (2 PM ET) to accommodate what they described as a...

A peace agreement ceremoniously signed in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday between the Sudanese government (official website here) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (official website here; profile here) formally ended a 21-year civil war, the longest-running internal struggle on...

US Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins was sentenced late Saturday to six months in a military prison, a demotion in rank to Staff Sgt. and a cut in pay for ordering two Iraqis to be pushed into the...

Palestinian leaders called on Israeli authorities Saturday to ease travel restrictions as promised on the eve of Sunday's upcoming Palestinian elections to pick a successor to late president Yasser Arafat. Israel said it would keep its troops out of...