The US Senate Judiciary Committee completed its questioning of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito on Thursday, the fourth day of its confirmation hearings for the Third Circuit jurist. Alito, who appears headed for approval, declared his admiration for his predecessor, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor , praising "her integrity and her dedication to the case-by-case [...]

Syrian officials announced Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad would not submit to questioning by the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese president Rafik Hariri . Information Minister Mahdi Dahkl-Allah claimed that the refusal stemmed from concerns over preserving Syria's sovereignty and intimated that an informal meeting between the investigators and Assad in Syria [...]

Ligue Iteka , a human rights group in Burundi, on Thursday criticized this week's release of 673 political prisoners held for alleged crimes related to Burundi's 12-year civil war . Ligue Iteka director Jean Marie Vianey Kavumbagu questioned the process for identifying and freeing political prisoners, who were evaluated for release by a commission of [...]

Tenet Healthcare , the country's second-largest private hospital chain, on Thursday agreed to a $215 million settlement to end class action shareholder lawsuits alleging that some of the company's officers and directors misled investors about Medicare expenses. The for-profit company confirmed that insurance will cover $75 million of the settlement, while former chairman and CEO [...]

Foreign ministers from England, France, and Germany said Thursday that negotiations with Iran over its efforts to resume nuclear fuel research had reached a "dead end", and recommended that the nation be referred to the UN Security Council . US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that the US would consider such a [...]

Ukrainian Justice Minister Serhiy Holovaty said in a statement Thursday that the Ukrainian parliament's dismissal of the government earlier this week was illegal because the vote did not meet the necessary two-thirds majority. On Tuesday Holovaty warned that the country had been plunged into "legal chaos" by the move, although Thursday he appeared to back [...]

A court in Copenhagen Thursday found five Danish soldiers guilty on two of four counts of abuse against Iraqi prisoners, but refused to sentence the soldiers due to "extenuating circumstances". The judge noted that unclear procedural rules and outdated training mitigated the offenses. The five were charged in connection with an incident in 2004 , [...]

US Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller has invoked his right not to incriminate himself by refusing to answer questions in two courts-martial against soldiers accused of using dogs as an intimidation tactic at the US-operated Abu Ghraib prison facility in Iraq. Miller, who helped establish operations at Abu Ghraib, invoked his military Article 31 rights [...]

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled on Wednesday that several civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon alleging sexual abuse by priests should go to trial. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2004 on the day that a suit asking for over $100 million in damages was scheduled to go to trial. The filing [...]

AP is reporting that Jose Padilla has pleaded not guilty in federal district court to 11 charges, including conspiracy to murder US nationals and providing material support to terrorists. Padilla was detained over three years ago on suspicion of planning to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US but was indicted on the 11 [...]