Latest international news

Iran defends right to jail academics 
Iran has hit back at German government criticism of jail sentences for six reformist intellectuals who attended a conference on the future of the Islamic state last year in Berlin. They include Fariborz Raisdana, an economics professor, who was sentenced to three years in prison and is barred from teaching for five years and Ali Afshari, a prominent student leader, who received a five-year sentence. They were charged with undermining state security and other crimes.

Students arrested for supporting truce
Nine university students have been arrested in Sri Lanka for putting up posters calling on the government to respond to a truce offered by Tamil Tiger rebels.