A British student who claims he was on a humanitarian mission to Iraq when he was arrested by US forces has been jailed for 15 years for passport violations. Mobeen Muneef, 27, from Tooting, south London, was sentenced by the central criminal court in Iraq after a trial last week. He was apprehended by US marines with a group of men in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi on December 7 2004

The setting, a tour of Microsoft's ultra-wired "Home of the Future," was faintly evocative of the American National Exhibit in Moscow in 1959 showcasing color televisions and other world-beating U.S. technology

Israel said Tuesday that it would increase political pressure on the Palestinian government in response to a suicide bombing on Monday, but gave no hint of planning a major military response or singling out members of the Hamas-dominated government for arrest or assassination

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad maintained his drumbeat of defiance Tuesday, warning that Tehran would "cut off the hand of any aggressor" and insisting the military must be ready with the most modern technology. Speaking to military officers at a parade marking Army Day, Ahmadinejad said, "Today, you are among the world's most powerful armies because you rely on God

José Toro says he was doing the right thing for Venezuela when he encouraged foreign companies to invest in the nation's oil fields in the 1990s. But President Hugo Chavez's government may seek to jail him for the campaign. Toro, a former director of state oil company PDVSA, promoted an effort to offer companies reductions in royalty and tax payments to entice investors as prices for heavy crude oil fell to only $7 per barrel

Hillary Clinton increased speculation about her presidential aspirations yesterday with the release of figures that reveal a White House-sized fundraising effort for her Senate re-election campaign. During the first three months of this year Friends of Hillary raised a shade over $6m (£3.4m) for her re-election in November, according to figures filed with the federal election commission. That leaves Ms Clinton with $19

Relations between the west and the hardline Iranian regime are set to worsen after a Tehran-based group claimed yesterday it was trying to recruit Iranians and other Muslims in Britain to carry out suicide bombings against Israel

Protests demanding democracy be restored continued across Nepal for a 13th day yesterday, with security forces firing on anti-monarchy demonstrators as a general strike emptied roads, closed schools and cut supplies of food and petrol to the capital. Defiance of royal rule has spread quickly through society. Yesterday 25 civil servants from the home ministry left their desks to chant anti-king slogans in a government courtyard, before police rounded them up and took them to a detention centre

The following is an opinion editorial provided by Valerie Davis, principal, Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia Inc.: Earlier this month, Gallup released its annual poll on the environment with the headline, "Most Americans Say Government Doing Too Little for the Environment." In fact, according to Gallup, 62 percent of Americans say so. Not surprisingly, the numbers vary according to party affiliation

IRAN and Qatar have said they will each give $US50 million ($69 million) to the cash-strapped Hamas-led Palestinian government, defying the United States and the European Union. Yesterday Qatar, which hosted the command centre for the US military in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, said the aid decision "stems from Qatar's support for the Palestinian people". It did not say how or when the money would reach the Palestinian Authority