More than 300 men convicted by Saudi Arabia for taking part in terror plots have been jailed following trials criticized by a rights group for their lack of transparency. Saudi Arabia reported last week that 330 people had been convicted of membership in a "deviant group" -- a reference to the al Qaeda terrorist network, founded by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden. On Monday, a Justice Ministry spokesman released more details about the group, saying that 323 will serve time ...

For a quarter of a century, Russia has been Europe's single biggest gas supplier, providing about a third of all the gas the European Union uses each year. But while the gas is cheap and plentiful, this arrangement has created an energy dependence that makes the E.U. vulnerable to Moscow's shifting moods. That was the case in January, when Russia tried to settle a payment dispute with Ukraine, its main transit country, by turning off the taps. In the ...

Wajeha al-Huwaider picked up her passport, got in a taxi, and headed from her home in eastern Saudi Arabia to the nearby island kingdom of Bahrain -- a 45-minute drive that many Saudis take to get away for the weekend. Despite having a valid passport, Saudi authorities at the border sent al-Huwaider home. That's because in Saudi Arabia, a woman needs permission from her male guardian before she can leave the country. Al-Huwaider -- a vocal women's rights activist in ...

U.S. President Obama and Pope Benedict XVI discussed current affairs, the Catholic Church's teachings and abortion as they met for the first time Friday, according to the White House and the Vatican. The president also handed the pontiff a letter from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year, and asked that the pontiff pray for the senator, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough said. Kennedy, 77, a Democrat, received the diagnosis after suffering a seizure ...

In many cases it's a woman that grips the blade -- maybe clean, maybe dirty -- that cuts a girl's path to womanhood. The cutter, who works for a fee, can pursue any number of surgical options for the young girl's rite of passage. She can remove the girl's clitoris entirely, narrow her vagina with stitches, or make other excisions of the girl's genitalia. A traditional symbol of a child's maturity to womanhood, the girl undergoes a circumcision. Often ...

Any notion that the invasion of Iraq was simply an oil grab took another hit on Tuesday when Baghdad opened the bidding on the rights to develop its massive energy reserves. In a day-long auction of eight huge oil fields — some of the world's biggest — virtually all the 41 foreign companies invited to bid by the Iraqi government balked at the Baghdad terms. The only contract signed was a 20-year deal for a consortium led by BP ...

The decision to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq's cities on Tuesday was made by Iraqis, not Americans. That's why the Iraqi government is holding a massive celebration to mark the redeployment as National Sovereignty Day. At the insistence of the Iraqis, the Status of Forces Agreement concluded late last year between the Iraqi government and the Bush Administration required that U.S. troops be out of Iraq's urban areas by June 30, 2009, and withdrawn from the country ...

The reason for canceling Thursday's scheduled meeting in Paris between Benjamin Netanyahu and George Mitchell was simple: there was nothing for the Israeli Prime Minister and President Obama's Middle East peace envoy to discuss. The U.S. has demanded a complete freeze in Israeli settlement construction in territories conquered in 1967, making it a litmus test of Israel's bona fides in pursuing the two-state solution, which the Obama Administration has prioritized. Netanyahu, who faces more public pressure from Washington than ...

Two weeks into turmoil, Iran's leaders turned up the heat Friday as a high-ranking cleric warned protesters that they would be punished "firmly" and shown no mercy. "Rioters and those who mastermind the unrest must know the Iranian nation will not give in to pressure and accept the nullification of the election results," said Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami during Friday prayers in Tehran, according to Iran's state-run Press TV. "I ask the Judiciary to firmly deal with these people and set ...

Michael Jackson had a level of hero worship on a par with Elvis Presley or the Beatles but he was the first black star to inspire such a massive following around the world. Total worldwide sales of more than 350 million records over his 40-year career give just a hint of the adoration there was for the "King of Pop." The fact that his death came on the eve of a comeback tour in London will leave his devotees feeling ...