The Iranian parliament reviewed and rejected Resolution 1737 in December. That resolution cited reports submitted by the IAEA which showed that Iran had not "established full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities" as set out in Resolution 1696 or otherwise complied with IAEA instructions. Iran has consistently decried the sanctions and emphasized that its policy will go unchanged. On Saturday Iranian Minister for Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki said that Resolution 1747 takes an unlawful, unnecessary and unjustifiable action against the peaceful nuclear programme of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which presents no threat to international peace and security and falls, therefore, outside the Council’s Charter-based mandate.

Colombian appellate judge Leonor Perdomo ordered the release of ex-intelligence chief Jorge Noguera Friday on the grounds that Noguera was "illegally and unconstitutionally being deprived of his freedom" because chief prosecutor Mario Iguaran had not personally issued an arrest request. Perdomo ruled that Iguaran has to personally request ex-intelligence chief's detention because Noguera was a public servant when the crimes were alleged to have been committed. Noguera, who was arrested on Thursday, is accused of murder and conspiracy for allegedly contracting with illegal paramilitary groups to assassinate political opponents. Iguaran disagreed with the ruling, stating that "think Colombia or the international community can tolerate the message that conspiring with criminals has any relation to one's functions as a public servant."

Noguera, who ran the Colombian Department of Administrative Security resigned in October 2005 after he was tape-recorded while discussing plans to sell intelligence to paramilitary groups. Several of the people on Noguera's hit list were later killed, including university professor Alfredo Correa de Andreis, who was investigating the paramilitary groups at the time of his death in 2004.

A powerful quake tore into a rural area of coastal central Japan on Sunday, killing at least one person as it toppled aging farmhouses and temples, set off landslides and caused a small tsunami. Some 160 people were injured.

The magnitude 6.9 quake struck at 9:42 a.m. (0042 GMT) off the Noto Peninsula on the Sea of Japan coast. The Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning urging an evacuation, but the alert was lifted after a 10-centimeter (6-inch) wave hit the shore, causing no damage.

The temblor was a shock to the region, which had not seen a major quake since 1933.

"The shaking was so violent, I freaked out. All I could do was to duck underneath the desk," said Yukiko Taka, 58, the owner of a traditional lacquerware shop in Wajima, the hardest hit town in Ishikawa prefecture (state). "It was so frightening."

Weaker quakes rattled the region through the day, including a magnitude 5.3 aftershock. No additional damage was reported.

The initial quake knocked down buildings, caused landslides, and cut power, water and transportation lines. The Noto airport was closed, and roads were snarled with residents leaving or concerned Japanese rushing to the area to see relatives.

A 52-year-old woman was crushed to death by a falling stone lantern, officials said, and at least 162 other people were injured, most of them hurt when they fell during the shaking or were hit by falling objects and broken glass.

Local authorities said they were thankful the death toll was so low.

"Perhaps our traditional homes were sturdy enough to survive the quake," said Masayuki Murozuka, an Ishikawa official. "I think it was also fortunate that the quake hit in midmorning so most people were fully awake, perhaps even finished breakfast by then."

Television footage of the quake showed buildings shaking violently for about 30 seconds. After the quake, buildings lay in heaps of rubble, and the windows of shops were shattered. Roof tiles cluttered streets with cracked pavement.

Fear of aftershocks and more landslides caused by the loosening of soil waterlogged by overnight rains continued to plague the quake zone -- and keep residents jittery.

"A fairly big aftershock hit just minutes ago and I jumped out the door," said Tomio Maeda, manager of convenience store Family Mart in Anamizu town. "It's scary, I guess it's not over yet."

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said officials were doing their best to rescue victims and assess the extent of the damage.

About 30 soldiers had arrived to help with disaster relief, and military aircraft were examining the damage. Some 375 firefighters from seven other prefectures were also dispatched to help, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

The quake also knocked down at least 45 homes in Ishikawa, and partially destroyed another 227, the FDMA said. Most of the injuries and damage were concentrated in Wajima, about 312 kilometers (193 miles) northwest of Tokyo.

Also today, prosecutors asked the Moscow Municipal Court to ban the far-right National Bolshevik Party and suspend the party's activities pending a ruling. The party's leaders said the decision was politically motivated.

Many see the selection of Hong Kong's leader as a farce - the incumbent will almost certainly be picked again Sunday by a committee that usually goes with the choice of China's rulers.

But for the first time since the former British colony returned to Beijing's rule, the election has had a challenger and American-style debates. It also saw the incumbent - veteran civil servant Donald Tsang - promise a specific plan to bring full democracy to China's wealthiest city.

Tsang is expected to coast to re-election by an 800-seat election committee loaded with tycoons, leaders of special interest groups and other elites.

His rival is Alan Leong, a lawmaker and lawyer who believes stable, well-educated Hong Kong is ready for full democracy.

He says Tsang is among those dragging their feet on political reform. Leong insists that when the next leadership vote is held in 2012, Hong Kong should get rid of what's commonly known as the "small-circle election" system and let the public directly elect the winner.

The race also featured the first public debates between leadership candidates. The two men met twice in televised events that yielded spirited argument about a range of issues.

When this former British colony returned to Chinese rule 10 years ago, the Communist leadership in Beijing said Hong Kong could keep its capitalist ways, maintain its civil liberties and be semiautonomous under a "one country, two systems" formula. The city's mini-constitution, or Basic Law, says Hong Kong will eventually gain full democracy, referred to as universal suffrage, but no timeline has been given.

On Sunday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair may one day face war crimes charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. Moreno-Ocampo said that the ICC could investigate allegations of war crimes stemming from the conduct of coalition forces in Iraq, so long as Iraq agrees to ratify the Rome Statute and accede to ICC jurisdiction.

In an opinion piece in the newspaper El Pais, published on the fourth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon said the war was "one of the most sordid and unjustifiable episodes in recent human history".

"We should look more deeply into the possible criminal responsibility of the people who are, or were, responsible for this war and see whether there is sufficient evidence to make them answer for it," Garzon wrote.

"There is enough of an argument in 650,000 deaths for this investigation and inquiry to start without more delay," he said.

Garzon, who became famous in 1999 when he tried to extradite Pinochet from Britain and try him for crimes against humanity, was particularly critical of the former Spanish government, a major backer of the Iraq invasion.

In February, Spain's former leader Jose Maria Aznar said he now knew Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction but "the problem was not having been clever enough to know earlier."

Garzon wrote: "If he didn't know enough, he should be asked why he didn't act prudently, giving United Nations inspectors more leeway instead of doing the opposite in total submission and fidelity to President Bush."

Gaspar Llamazares, head of the left-wing party Izquierda Unida, said he would present a motion to the Spanish parliament that leaders behind the war should face international tribunals.

"People cannot be allowed to make decisions that cause hundreds of thousands of victims, fail to recognise their errors and not have to answer to a court," said Llamazares, whose party is allied to the ruling Socialist party.

Garzon, who took a sabbatical last year to study international terrorism, said the Iraq war had helped incite hatred and garner more support for terrorist training camps.

"In some way, with a terrible lack of awareness, we have been and are helping this monster grow more and more and strengthen by the minute so it is probably invincible," he said.

Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan will be hanged Tuesday, according to Iraqi legal sources quoted by wire services Monday afternoon. The Iraqi government has scheduled the execution despite defense lawyers' contention that the government must wait at least 30 days after sentencing to execute a defendant. Ramadan, found guilty with Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) in November for his role in the reprisal killings of 148 Shiites at Dujail, lost an appeal of his sentence last week. He was originally given a life sentence, but after intervention by the appeals panel the trial court in February ordered the death penalty.

Following the failed appeal Ramadan's Rome-based lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano sent a letter to Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general of the Multi-National Force Iraq, urging him to intervene and prevent Ramadan's transfer from US to Iraqi custody. Di Stefano has also petitioned Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who has expressed opposition to the death penalty, to intervene and commute Ramadan's sentence. In an e-mail to JURIST late Monday, Di Stefano, formerly one of lawyers representing Saddam Hussein, said he had already moved to prosecute Saddam trial chief judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman in the UK after he was alleged to have sought asylum there, and would "prosecute any and all that have been involved in the execution of my clients."

Last week, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Leandro Despouy urged the Iraqi government not to execute Ramadan because of "grave shortcomings" in his legal process. In February, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Phillip Alston also called on the government to suspend the execution because of judicial misconduct.