Democratic senators criticized the acting director of the US Food and Drug Administration Tuesday for the timing of the agency's announcement that it would reconsider allowing some over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception. Monday's surprise announcement came on the eve of a confirmation hearing for Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach , the acting FDA commissioner and President [...]

A Russian arbitration court judge declared oil company Yukos bankrupt Tuesday and said the company may be liquidated to pay creditors. The decision, which had been expected, confirms a vote taken by Yukos' creditors last week. A Yukos lawyer described Tuesday's decision as a "death sentence" for the company, once the primary producer of oil [...]

The UK Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that six terror suspects cannot be detained without charge under so-called control orders , which are used when there is not enough evidence to prosecute. UK Home Secretary John Reid had appealed a High Court ruling , arguing that it had contained "misunderstandings and errors." The High Court [...]

Iran will not abide by a UN Security Council resolution ordering it to stop enriching uranium, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday in an address on state television. Ahmadinejad said "the peaceful use of nuclear fuel production technology" is Iran's "right," promising not to give in to pressure from the UN. Iran's Foreign Ministry and [...]

Eliza Manningham-Buller , the head of Britain's domestic spy agency MI5 , has refused to testify before a joint parliamentary human rights committee investigating terror practices, saying she can appear before only the Intelligence and Security Committee because it safeguards sensitive information. The human rights committee released correspondence with Manningham-Buller on Tuesday in a report [...]

The Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) , an opposition group and former rebel group, on Tuesday alleged widespread election fraud in Sunday's election , and threatened to challenge the election in court if the results are not fixed. The RCD noted cases of ballot stuffing and biased election officials during the poll – the first [...]

US Army Major General Geoffrey Miller , the former commander of Guantanamo Bay , retired from the Army Monday with honors. Miller ran Guantanamo from 2002 to 2004, and served as a consultant at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during 2003, where he has is alleged to have recommended the use of dogs as [...]

Attorneys representing I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby , the former chief of staff for Vice President Cheney, on Monday asked US District Judge Reggie Walton to allow expert testimony from a memory specialist at Libby's upcoming trial relating to his role in the CIA leak case . In a court filing, Libby's attorneys said that testimony [...]

Lawyers from the US Department of Justice on Monday appealed a federal court decision that allowed a challenge to the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program to go forward, arguing to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the lawsuit could expose state secrets and jeopardize national security. US District Judge Vaughn [...]

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was questioned Monday by Judge Alejandro Solis about the assassination of General Carlos Prats shortly after Pinochet came to power following a 1973 coup . Prats, the army chief before Pinochet, opposed the coup. Solis said Pinochet answered all the questions and that there were no problems during the meeting. [...]