Iranian Interior Ministry officials said Friday that intimidation and other abuses were impairing the presidential run-off election between relative moderate and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and hard-liner and mayor of Tehran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . The Interior Ministry, dominated by Rafsanjani supporters, has requested that some polling locations be closed because of irregularities, such as [...]

Chief of Staff to UN-Secretary General Kofi Annan Mark Malloch Brown told AP Friday that the UN will ask France to pursue a former UN employee accused in the murders of 32 Rwandans during the genocide of 1994, after pressure on Rwandan authorities has yielded little success. Callixte Mbarushimana , who has lived in France [...]

A judge has added $130 million to the $1.45 billion verdict against Morgan Stanley a jury awarded last month to billionaire financier and Revlon Inc. chairman Ron Perelman. The judge took off about $84.5 million because of previous settlements, but added more than $208 million in interest. Perelman attorney, Jack Scarola said he believed a [...]

In a White House press conference Friday with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari , President Bush reiterated his goal of sticking to the scheduled timetable for a permannet Iraqi constitution which contemplates completion of a a draft by August 15, a referendum on the draft by October 15, and a new election under the [...]

Amnesty International Friday called for the US to open detention centers around the world to UN experts, expressing "deep regret" at the reluctance to to allow human rights experts to visit with detainees. The organization again called on Congress to create a commission to implement a full investigation into US detention and interrogation policies and [...]

Federal law enforcment authorities in San Francisco have unsealed an indictment charging 19 people with drug trafficking and using three San Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries as fronts for organized crime. In marijuana raids conducted earlier this week federal agents seized 9,309 marijuana plants, ecstasy, 3 firearms, and pot laced sweets including candy, cookies and brownies, [...]

A federal court in Lausanne, Switzerland ruled Friday that former Russian nuclear minister Yevgeny Adamov must remain in a Swiss prison pending hearings on an extradition request from Russia, overruling a decision two weeks ago ordering his release. Switzerland's Supreme Court held that "in extradition procedures, the incarceration of the person sought is the rule, [...]

A three judge panel of the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals Friday rejected claims by thirteen states that the Bush administration's decision to let older power plants emit more pollution violates the Clean Air Act . The policy upheld in State of New York v. EPA allows plants to modernize without requiring installation of [...]

Zimbabwe's police chief has confirmed that 46,000 people have been arrested in "Operation Restore Order," a highly controversial government initiative to reduce crime and illegal buildings in Harare and other towns. The state demolition of "illegal" backyard shacks and showstalls, the arrest of street vendors and the confiscation of their property has drawn international condemnation [...]

An Italian official speaking anonymously said Friday that a judge in Milan has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for their alleged role in aiding the deportation of an imam to Egypt . Italian newspapers claim the Milan seizure and deportation of an Egyptian known as Abu Omar in 2003 was part of the [...]