A top member of Saddam Hussein’s defence team slammed the deposed Iraqi leader’s upcoming trial today, saying it was a gimmick by the new Iraqi government for political gain following a referendum on a controversial draft constitution.

French judges today ended an eight-year probe into an alleged kickback scheme at former state-owned oil giant Elf Aquitaine, implicating more than 40 people in a web of corruption that reached into Africa.

Former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas was jailed for six months today at the end of multi-million pound corruption trial that has enthralled the nation.