Pakistan's Supreme court is set to hear petitions seeking the prosecution of the main opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, for murder.

According to documents obtained by the BBC, the court will hear the accusations against Mr Sharif and then decide whether to pursue the charges.

The petitions call for Mr Sharif's arrest and prosecution.

He has denied ordering the murder of an ex-army officer after an alleged political kickbacks deal turned sour.

Nawaz Sharif, twice elected as Pakistan's prime minister, has recently been acquitted of similar criminal charges by the Supreme Court.

The court's decision was made on 21 July but it is expected to begin its inquiries imminently.

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The Taliban have called for a UN and human rights investigation into an air strike in Afghanistan on Friday that killed dozens of people.

The independent Afghanistan Rights Monitor group says up to 70 civilians died in the Kunduz province raid.

The Nato air strike targeted fuel tankers hijacked by the insurgents.

The BBC's David Loyn in Kabul says the Taliban call is a change to its usual policy of opposing all foreign involvement in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, US forces are facing new criticism from a Swedish organisation which claims US soldiers forced their way into a hospital, searching for insurgents.

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The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which runs the hospital in Wardak province, south-west of Kabul, says its employees were tied up by American troops who spent two hours scouring wards.

The aid group says this was a clear violation of international principles and made its humanitarian task more difficult.

The prevention of civilian casualties and protection of the Afghan population forms the centrepiece of a new military strategy for Afghanistan by the commander of US forces, General Stanley McChrystal.

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A Sudanese woman has been jailed for a month after refusing to pay a fine for "dressing indecently" by wearing trousers, her lawyers say.

Lubna Ahmed Hussein did not want to "give the verdict any legitimacy" by paying the fine of about $200 (£122), her lawyer, Nabil Adib, told the BBC.

Ms Hussein, a journalist in her 30s, could have been given up to 40 lashes.

Before the verdict, she had said she wanted her trial to become a test case for women's rights, correspondents say.

Ms Hussein had resigned from her job at the UN, which would have given her immunity.

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Three men have been found guilty of plotting to kill thousands of people by blowing up planes flying from London to America with home-made liquid bombs.

A Woolwich Crown Court jury convicted Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, Tanvir Hussain, 28, and Assad Sarwar, 29, of conspiring to activate bombs disguised as drinks.

Four other men were found not guilty of involvement in the suicide bomb plot.

The men's arrests in August 2006 led to new airport restrictions on liquids and brought chaos to travellers.

The jury heard that at the time of his arrest, plot ringleader Ahmed Ali had identified seven US and Canada-bound flights to blow up over the Atlantic within a two-and-a-half-hour period.

They were flights from London's Heathrow airport to San Francisco, Washington, New York, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal.

His so-called "quartermaster", Sarwar, had secured bomb ingredients at his home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and a flat in the Walthamstow area of east London had become the bomb factory.

There the men put together a special mixture of chemicals that they planned to take onto planes in ordinary sports drinks bottles stored within hand luggage.

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A new study in the US suggests that women have a genetic aversion to dangerous animals, such as spiders.

The research, published in the New Scientist, says women are born with character traits that were ingrained in our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

As child protectors, they have to shun animals that threaten them or their young off-spring, researchers said.

Previous research suggested women were actually up to four times more likely to be afraid of creatures like spiders.

The new research was headed up by developmental psychologist, Dr David Rakison, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, 10 baby girls, and 10 baby boys were subjected to a number of pictures of spiders to gauge their reactions.

First the babies were shown a picture of a spider with a fearful human face, followed by images of a spider paired with a happy face - alongside an image of a flower twinned with a fearful face.

The results showed that the girls - some as young as 11 months old - looked longer at the picture of the happy face with a spider than the boys, who looked at both images for an equal time.

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Chinese authorities in Xinjiang Province have issued a notice that any Uyghur cadres or workers found not eating lunch during Ramadan could lose their jobs.

It is part of the campaign of local authorities in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uyghur ethnic group, to force the Uyghur people to give up their religious rituals during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is a holy month in the Islamic calendar, which begun this year on Aug. 22. It requires not eating during the daytime.

“Free lunches, tea, and coffee—that authorities are calling ‘Care from the government’ or ‘Living allowance’—are being offered in government departments and companies. But it is actually a ploy used to find out who is fasting,” said Dilxat Raxit, World Uyghur Congress spokesman, speaking to The Epoch Times.

According to Dilxat, Uyghur Communist Party cadres throughout Xinjiang had been forced to sign “letters of responsibility” promising to avoid fasting and other religious activities. They are also responsible for enforcing the policy in their assigned areas, and face punishment if anyone in these areas fasts.

For the first time, Dilxat said, the crackdown has extended to retired Communist Party members. Current cadres are required to visit them to prevent them from participating in the fast. If anyone violates the ban, local leaders will be held responsible and severely punished, he said.

Muslim restaurant owners are forced to sign a document to remain open and continue selling alcohol during Ramadan or have their licenses revoked, he said.

Read more @ The Epoc Times

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will approve more construction in West Bank settlements before considering a halt to building work, officials say.

The prime minister is expected to back work on hundreds of new homes next week in addition to 2,500 units already being built, a senior aide said.

He will then consider a temporary halt to settlement building, as requested by the US in a bid to restart peace talks.

The news angered the Palestinians who said it was "absolutely unacceptable".

"The only thing suspended by this announcement will be the peace process," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told the AFP news agency.

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An Arab organisation is to be put on trial in the Netherlands over its publication of a cartoon deemed offensive to Jews, prosecutors say.

The cartoon, published by the Arab European League (AEL) on its website, questions the Holocaust.

It said the decision to prosecute illustrated bias against Muslims.

It said the same standards were not applied to the Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who made a film including cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Last month prosecutors said they would not put the far-right MP on trial for distributing the controversial Danish cartoons, which caused a storm of protest after their publication in 2005.

However, he is still being investigated separately for inciting hatred against Muslims by making statements comparing Islam to Nazism.

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GOVERNMENT Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has called for segregation to be outlawed in Britain.

The controversial East London Labour MP, who hit the headlines last week after walking out of a Muslim wedding for being asked to sit apart from his wife, insists segregation of men and women outside places of worship should be against the law.

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wo Pakistani students arrested over unproven terror allegations in England earlier this year have returned to Pakistan, a British official said.

The duo have landed in Lahore after agreeing to leave Britain voluntarily, the official said.

Rizwan Sharif and Umar Farooq were among 12 people held by police after raids in north-west England in April, but the pair were never charged.

The Home Office tried to deport them, saying they remained a security threat.

The case has strained relations between Britain and Pakistan and also caused embarrassment to Britain.

On arrival in Lahore, the students told journalists that they were investigated by hundreds of policemen during their detention but the British authorities failed to prove any charges against him.

They said they were treated as "habitual criminals" during their detention.

The British government tried its best to create circumstances which had forced the students to leave Britain, they said.

Mr Farooq termed the detention of Pakistani students in Britain "a matter of shame for the nation".

Read more @ BBC News