The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday proposed stricter smog standards that would replace the Bush administration's broader 2008 national smog regulations , complying with scientific recommendations. The new smog restrictions would reduce the amount of smog emissions to between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) from the previous 0.075 ppm. The EPA [...]

An official from the US Department of Defense (DOD) said Wednesday that about one in five detainees freed from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay have returned to terrorist activities, according to a new Pentagon report. The report, which remains classified, shows an increase from the 14 percent recidivism rate reported last spring. That [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided on a military prosecution for Afghan Guantanamo Bay detainee Obaidullah , according to court filings Wednesday. Obaidullah was initially charged by the military in 2008 with hiding and storing anti-tank mines to be deployed against US forces in Afghanistan. He has been held at Guantanamo since 2002. [...]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has requested federal assistance to pay more than $200 million annually for security for the upcoming trial of five 9/11 suspects, according to a letter made public Wednesday. Bloomberg sent the letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Tuesday, estimating that security would cost about $216 million [...]

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday announced new rules for obtaining leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands. The new rules were designed to provide a greater public voice in deciding how the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) awards these leases. In a statement, Salazar said, "e need a fresh [...]

Honduran prosecutors on Wednesday filed charges against three military chiefs in connection with the ouster of former president Manuel Zelaya in June. The attorney general's office filed abuse of power charges in the Honduran Supreme Court against armed forces commander Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, air force commander Venancio Cervantes, and naval commander Luis Javier Prince. According [...]

The US Marshals Service will conduct an extensive review of courthouse security nationwide, Assistant Director for Judicial Security Michael Prout told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The announcement of a security review comes just two days after a courthouse official was killed and a deputy marshal was wounded in an attack on a Las Vegas [...]

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the trial over the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, will be videotaped and broadcast on YouTube. Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that while the trial will not be broadcast live, it will be recorded [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been indicted on six counts for allegedly attempting to set off an explosive device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 bound from Amsterdam to Detroit last month. Abdulmutallab has been charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted [...]

An Iranian parliamentary inquiry has found that Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was responsible for the deaths of at least three detainees involved in protests that followed the June 12 presidential election , the conservative Alef website reported Wednesday. The report alleges that Mortazavi, the prosecutor responsible for overseeing the Kahrizak prison, ordered that the prisoners [...]