Iran's Guardian Council , the legislative watchdog panel composed of six lawyers and six Islamic clerics, Monday rejected a bill that would have allowed abortion during the first four months of pregnancy when the mother's life was endangered or a child would be born with a severe handicap which would financially burden the family. The [...]

The Spanish government has announced that it is granting some 700,000 work permits to previously-illegal immigrants who could prove that they had lived and worked in Spain for at least six months. As of Saturday, the final day immigrants could apply for amnesty in the latest drive launched in February , 672,347 workers in underground [...]

An Israeli newspaper reported Monday that senior officers in the Israel Defense Forces want to pre-emptively detain a number of Israeli extremists before the planned Gaza Strip pullout and evacuation of settlements this summer. On Sunday, authorities acting on orders of the Israeli Defense Minister arrested Jewish settler Neria Ofan, who will be held without [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced Sunday that he will postpone the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners, alleging that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is not upholding his promise to pressure Palestinian militants into a ceasefire. Abbas responded that Sharon was acting in bad faith and was harming the agreements made at February 8 summit [...]

New legal documents filed by convicted spy Jonathan Pollard include allegations that Pollard has been tortured during his US imprisonment. Pollard was arrested in 1985 and was convicted of spying for Israel while he was a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy. In a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, Pollard alleges that he was [...]

The trial of two Rwandan men accused of war crimes during the 1994 Rwandan genocide begins Monday in Brussels. Half-brothers Etienne Nzabonimana and Samuel Ndashyikirwa are accused of helping the Hutu militia and are charged under Belgium's universal jurisdiction law, which allows the prosecution of war crimes suspects even if the suspects are not Belgian [...]

A week after Nepal's King Gyanendra lifted a state of emergency , the country's seven political parties have joined together to present a common agenda that demands a return to democracy and constitutional reforms to limit the monarchy's power. Speaking on behalf of all the parties, Mahesh Acharya of the Nepali Congress Party said that [...]

Egypt's upper house of parliament Sunday approved an amendment to the Egyptian Constitution setting regulations for Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential election despite fear in some quarters that the guidelines would exclude serious contenders from running. Egyptians have typically cast a confidence vote to approve a presidential candidate selected by Parliament, but Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak [...]

The families of ten British soldiers killed in Iraq announced Sunday that they are filing suit against Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Their group, Military Families Against the War, had previously demanded a full public inquiry into the soldiers' deaths . The alleged war crimes include the [...]

Senator Richard Lugar , chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , said Sunday that he expects a party-line vote this week to approve the controversial nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations . Appearing Sunday on CBS News' Face the Nation program, Lugar predicted that the committee will vote Thursday [...]