An internal probe of the scandal-ridden UN Oil-for-Food Program has concluded that although the program was plagued by mismanagement, especially in the handling of contracts, there was no evidence of corruption on the part of UN officials. The probe was conducted by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services; its findings, in the form of [...]

Victorious Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas pledged to supporters in Ramallah late Sunday night that he would work towards securing the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Israeli officials, for their part, have already indicated they will free the Palestinian prisoners if Abbas cracks down on Palestinian rocket attacks. As previously reported [...]

Two exit polls taken of voters in Palestine's presidential election indicate Mahmoud Abbas (official campaign website here) has won a landslide victory, taking at least 66% of the vote. AP has more. The official count is now underway after polls closed at 9 PM local time (2 PM ET). 4:48 PM ET – Abbas has [...]

Palestinan election officials announced Sunday that the vote to choose a successor for late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat would be extended by two hours until 9 PM local time (2 PM ET) to accommodate what they described as a heavy turnout and also to compensate for confusion at the main east Jerusalem polling station where [...]

A peace agreement ceremoniously signed in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday between the Sudanese government (official website here) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (official website here; profile here) formally ended a 21-year civil war, the longest-running internal struggle on the African continent. The deal outlines power and resource sharing plans intended to stabiize relations between [...]

US Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins was sentenced late Saturday to six months in a military prison, a demotion in rank to Staff Sgt. and a cut in pay for ordering two Iraqis to be pushed into the Tigris river north of Baghdad in January 2004. Although prosecutors claimed one of the men drowned, [...]

Palestinian leaders called on Israeli authorities Saturday to ease travel restrictions as promised on the eve of Sunday's upcoming Palestinian elections to pick a successor to late president Yasser Arafat. Israel said it would keep its troops out of West Bank towns and would lift some roadblocks, but that it would not eliminate main checkpoints. [...]

Ten former directors of Enron have agreed to pay $168 million to settle a lawsuit by shareholders, according to lead plaintiff University of California. The settlement, announced Friday, involves an out-of-pocket payment by the former directors of $13 million, with the rest being provided by insurance. The lawsuit had claimed that the Enron executives deceive [...]

US-led forces have detained a top figure in the Muslim militant network in Iraq and an ally of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the US military said in a statement Saturday. The man arrested, Abdul Aziz Sa'dun Ahmed Hamduni, also known as Abu Ahmed, admitted coordinating and conducting "terrorist operations" in the city of Mosul according to [...]

A judge in Chile accused former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on Friday of having false passports just days after he was placed under house arrest for human rights charges. Special judge Sergio Munoz made the accusation in a court filing but did not say how Pinochet obtained the passports were obtained or whether they were [...]