Democrats in the US Senate spent Monday morning lobbying against US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito in their last efforts to block his confirmation to the high court. The Senate will hold a cloture vote Monday afternoon and if Alito wins at least 60 votes, the final confirmation vote will be held Tuesday morning. [...]

The Moscow City Court has denied a petition for release by former Russian nuclear minister Yevgeny Adamov , ruling that he will remain in custody until April 12. Adamov, who is charged with fraud and power abuse by both Russian and US prosecutors, cited health reasons for his requested release. The former atomic energy minister [...]

US Army Sgt. Kevin D. Myricks was sentenced on Monday to six months in a military prison and a demotion in rank for his involvement in the beating of two detainees in his custody at Forward Operating Base Ripley in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province last year. Myricks was found guilty of conspiracy to maltreat a detainee [...]

Former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has asked the African Union to intervene to halt criminal charges filed by Zambia in the United Kingdom. Chiluba contends that as a member of the AU, Zambia is bound by an agreement that all former African heads of state facing charges stemming from their time in office will be [...]

The British government has rejected calls to reduce the legal time limit for abortions, despite a new poll that shows women want changes to make it more difficult to obtain an abortion later in a pregnancy. The Observer reported Sunday that according to a survey, 47 percent of British women feel the legal limit for [...]

A senior Hamas leader said Sunday that the party plans to use Islamic sharia as a guide for lawmaking as Hamas members take their seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council , but that Hamas will convince people in a "polite" way to choose Islam and hold a referendum to allow the people to decide. Mahmoud [...]

A bail hearing for Lucia Pinochet Hiriart, daughter of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is set for Monday in Santiago Monday following Hiriat's return to Chile Saturday after she withdrew her request for asylum in the United States. She fled Chile last week after being indicted on tax evasion charges . Hiriat was told that [...]

AP is reporting that the chief lawyer for Saddam Hussein has said that Hussein and his defense team will boycott trial proceedings when they resume Wednesday. The trial resumed briefly Sunday under new Kurdish chief judge Ra'uf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman but was adjourned again after Hussein, defense lawyers, and two co-defendants left the courtroom in protest [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, the Sudanese government has criticized a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report released last Friday which sharply condemned the human rights condition in Darfur . Jamal Mohamed Ibrahim, the spokesperson for the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, called the report excessive and warned that it would contribute to inflexibility on the part [...]

The trial of Uzbek opposition leader and businessman Sanjar Umarov opened and promptly adjourned Monday in Tashkent after defense lawyers requested more time to prepare their case. Umarov, a leader of the opposition Sunshine Uzbekistan Coalition , was arrested in October on charges that include embezzlement, tax fraud, and bribery. The Bush administration and international [...]