Iran’s Ahmadinejad dismisses nuclear talks with other nations

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday ruled out nuclear negotiations with other nations, saying, "Iran’s nuclear issue is over, in our opinion." At a news conference in Tehran, the hardline president also said that if re-elected he again will call for a debate with President Obama. Ahmadinejad previously urged a debate with President Bush and offered to debate both Obama and Republican presidential candidate Sen.

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Mother sentenced in Britain’s ‘Baby P’ case as outcry continues

A British woman and her boyfriend were sentenced to prison Friday in the violent death of the woman’s 17-month-old son, who came to be known as "Baby P" in a case that sparked a furor in Britain. Sentencing the mother to a minimum of five years in prison for her role in her toddler’s horrific death, Judge Stephen Kramer called the woman “manipulative and self-centered.” She and her boyfriend, both of whom cannot be identified for legal reasons, were found guilty of causing the death of the child

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Mother jailed as horrific baby abuse case closed

The British mother of a child who died after being brutally abused has been jailed indefinitely. The child’s — originally known as Baby P –horrifying death caused a furor in Britain, with the media, public and politicians united in demanding to know how his terrible injuries were missed by social workers, police and medical staff. Judge Stephen Kramer also Friday jailed the 27-year-old mum’s boyfriend for life with a minimum of 12 years and their lodger, Jason Owen, 37, indefinitely but with a minimum of three years, the British Press Association reported.

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Fears trial of pregnant Lao prisoner may be delayed

A British legal charity expressed concern Friday after a report that the trial of a pregnant British woman jailed in Laos would be delayed. The Vientiane Times, an English-language newspaper in Laos, reported Friday that the case of Samantha Orobator “needs further investigation to prove how she became pregnant while in prison before the case can come to court.” Orobator, 20, was jailed last August at the Vientiane airport for allegedly carrying about half a kilogram of heroin. She is more than five months pregnant, and legal aid charity Reprieve — which has worked on her case — has said that is possibly the result of rape while in prison, perhaps by a guard

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Gurkhas near victory in battle for UK settlement

The British government planned to announce Thursday that all 36,000 retired Gurkhas who served in its army will be allowed to settle in the UK, a campaigner told CNN, marking a major turnaround in official policy. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith planned to make an announcement on Gurkhas in the House of Commons on Thursday afternoon

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Britain’s Expense Scandal Claims Its First Big Victim

You know things are getting weird when Britain’s largest mass-market daily, the Sun, co-opts a regicidal 17th century republican who shut down Parliament at gunpoint as an avatar of democracy. But Oliver Cromwell’s angry exhortation to MPs supplied the paper’s front-page headline yesterday: “In the Name of God, Go.” British voters — or at any rate, those voters who work for Britain’s robustly opinionated media — are calling for heads to roll as each day brings new revelations about MPs’ overblown expense claims. Today, Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, became the scandal’s highest-profile victim, announcing that he will stand down in June, the first time a Speaker has been forced out in 300 years.

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UK Speaker to address calls for his head

The speaker of Britain’s House of Commons plans to make a statement Tuesday afternoon amid calls for him to resign, a spokesman for the House of Commons told CNN. The subject of Speaker Michael Martin’s speech wasn’t clear. But he has come under increasing pressure from MPs to step down in connection with a widening scandal surrounding lawmakers’ expenses

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