Omri Sharon, son of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , was sentenced Tuesday to a nine month prison term for illegal campaign fundraising. Sharon was indicted in August for setting up false companies as a disguise for more than $1.3 million he received in contributions from several Israeli and overseas corporations for his father's re-election [...]

The Egyptian opposition Muslim Brotherhood has promised to fight legislation backed by President Hosni Mubarak that would delay local elections in Egypt for an another two years and preserve the ruling party's dominance. The legislation, which only requires an expected approval by the lower house of parliament, would delay local council elections originally required within [...]

Sudan police have arrested five Sudanese human rights activists in the Darfur region and beat and arrested several Sudanese students who were rioting on the Juba University campus in Northern Khartoum, according to Amnesty International . The five activists, members of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO) , were arrested during a human rights workshop [...]

Two Iraqis claiming they were beaten by British soldiers following a demonstration that turned violent in 2004 said Tuesday that they would sue the UK military over the incident. According to Bassem Shaker, one of the two, he was among a group of several hundred protesting a lack of work in Amarah in January 2004, [...]

Leading Tuesday's international brief, South Korea has nominated its Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as a candidate for the office of the UN Secretary-General . The office, currently held by Kofi Annan is up for election in the second half of 2006 and its holder is determined by a majority vote of the General Assembly based [...]

The Constitutional Court of Thailand on Tuesday agreed to consider a petition to impeach Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on suspicion that he illegally held shares in the Shin Corporation , a telecommunications giant that he founded. The court secretary-general said that a decision will be made Thursday on whether to accept the case. The petition [...]

Saddam Hussein on Tuesday told the Iraqi High Criminal Court – formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal – that he was on hunger strike in protest at the way chief judge Ra'uf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman has been treating Hussein and his co-defendants. Abdel-Rahman began presiding over the trial last month after his predecessor resigned amid criticism that [...]

Just one month after New Orleans courts began preparations to resume trials , two New Orleans judges said that criminal courts may have to release as many as 4,000 indigent defendants, many of whom stand accused of felonies, due to lack of funding and resources to hire public defenders. Judges Calvin Johnson and Arthur Hunter [...]

US District Judge Ricardo Urbina on Monday issued a preliminary injunction preventing the US military from turning over US citizen and suspected terrorist Shawqi Omar to Iraqi officials. Omar, who the US describes as a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , was arrested in Baghdad in October 2004 after he was caught harboring an [...]

The controversial Identity Cards Bill narrowly passed its critical second reading in the British House of Commons Monday evening despite efforts by opposition parties and rebellious backbenchers from British Prime Minister Tony Blair's own Labour Party to stop it. In two years, anyone applying for travel or immigration documents in the United Kingdom will be [...]