BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The only thing certain about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is that the prosecutor has finished the investigation phase, a source revealed.

KIEV, Ukraine, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A former Ukrainian interior minister under detention in Kiev said he doesn't understand the latest charges filed against him.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Though Baghdad formally ended a record-breaking political stalemate this month, key legislative issues are likely to linger, an analyst said.

CAIRO, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The political climate in Egypt is such that the governing system hasn't worked and the country can be considered a failed state, an opposition leader said.

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Israel may have refused U.S. President Barack Obama's request to freeze settlements construction in the occupied West Bank, but it is still pushing him to free Jonathan Jay Pollard, Israel's most notorious spy.

ALGIERS, Algeria, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Algerian forces are quietly waging an offensive against members of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an Algerian official revealed.

TEHRAN, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Iranian lawmakers are obligated to give a serious response to British accusations regarding Iran's human rights record, the speaker of Parliament said Tuesday.

NEW DELHI, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Activists slammed a life sentence handed down by an Indian court to an internationally acclaimed doctor to life in prison on charges of supporting Maoists.

VIENNA, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Police in Austria, Germany and Macedonia said they struck a blow against a major international heroin trafficking ring, the "Frankfurt Mafia."

BAGHDAD, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Iraqi leaders approved draft provisions for the creation of a strategic council commission in the new government, a spokesman said.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A weekend call by Ivorian leader Alassane Ouattara for a general strike went unheeded Monday with business reported as usual, a spokesman said.

JOS, Nigeria, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims over Christmas threaten to mar presidential primaries set for Jan. 13 and have heightened political and religious tensions between the Christian south and the Muslim north.

CAIRO, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition movement, faces political hurdles in 2011 after failing to land a seat in recent elections, analysts said.

MOSCOW, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Moscow welcomed Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev on the leader's first official state visit since taking office, the Russian prime minister said Monday.