Arafat Rahman, the son of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia , was released Tuesday after being arrested the day before on corruption allegations, according to local media reports. The reason for Arafat's release was not apparent Tuesday, but negotiations between Zia and the military-backed government Monday ended in Zia agreeing to leave Bangladesh if [...]

The Nigerian electoral commission said Tuesday that Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar would be included on the ballots for this coming Saturday's presidential elections, after the Nigerian Supreme Court overturned his disqualification as a candidate. A spokesman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not say how Abubakar's name would be added to the [...]

A federal judge began hearings Monday to decide whether John Hinckley, Jr. should be given more freedom outside the mental hospital where he was sent after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 attempted assassination of US President Ronald Reagan . Hospital officials and Hinckley's family are arguing that restrictions currently [...]

A US federal jury in Louisiana Monday awarded $2.8 million in damages and penalties to an Allstate Insurance Co. policyholder in the second federal lawsuit to go to trial involving Louisiana homeowners affected by the Hurricane Katrina disaster . Homeowners Robert and Merryl Weiss sued Allstate for bad faith, alleging that the insurance carrier did [...]

Guantanamo Bay military prison detainee Abu Zubaydah denied accusations of al-Qaeda involvement and made allegations of torture, according to a transcript released Monday of his March 27 testimony before a US Combatant Status Review Tribunal . Zubaydah, a Palestinian, testified that from 1994 until approximately 2000, he worked at guest houses in Pakistan that were [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee Monday postponed until Thursday the scheduled Tuesday testimony of US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales regarding his role in the firings of eight US Attorneys in the wake of Monday's Virginia Polytechnic Institute shootings that left 33 people dead and wounded at least 15 others. Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [...]

A Russian court Monday upheld a decision to move former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky from a Siberian penal colony to a Moscow prison while officials investigate new charges of money laundering . The ruling also applies to Khodorkovsky's business partner Platon Lebedev , who faces embezzlement and money laundering charges. Defense lawyers welcomed the decision, [...]

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende Monday criticized efforts to create a new constitution for the European Union , saying in a joint press conference in London that member states could be better served simply by amending existing treaties. Blair also expressed concern that an entirely new constitution might [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Long Island Care At Home v. Coke , 06-593 , in which the Court considered whether a 1975 US Labor Department exemption rule that eliminates overtime for "companionship services" contravenes congressional intent to provide overtime in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) . Evelyn Coke, a [...]

The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Monday publicly rejected allegations that it had negotiated or sought a deal with Belgrade officials to conceal documents relating to the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro in the International Court of Justice. Last week former [...]