Former HealthSouth finance chief Weston Smith was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by one year of probation and ordered to forfeit $1.5 million in assets Thursday for his role in the company's accounting scandal . In June, the company's former CEO Richard Scrushy was acquitted of all charges during his trial in connection [...]

Army Spc. Charles Graner took the stand Thursday in court-martial proceedings against Pfc. Lynndie England , who is facing conspiracy, maltreatment of subordinates and indecent acts charges stemming from the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Graner, who was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in January for leading the prisoner abuse, did not testify [...]

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), chairman of the US House Subcommittee on the Constitution , said Thursday that legislation restricting state and local government's ability to take private property for private development could be presented to the full House Judiciary Committee in the next few weeks and could be ready for a vote in the US [...]

The US House Resources Committee Thursday approved the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act , legislation that would overhaul the Endangered Species Act by limiting the government's ability to protect plant and animal habitat while giving new development rights to property owners. The House Committee says that the new legislation is needed because "the Endangered [...]

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, said Thursday that he endorsed the draft Iraqi constitution and called for officials in the Shiite Muslim hierarchy to promote a "yes" vote in the upcoming national referendum. Al-Sistani's endorsement comes as Sunni Arab clerics and tribal leaders called for rejection of the charter . [...]

Leading Thursday's states brief, the Florida Supreme Court ruled today that gun makers, sued by cities and counties seeking to recover the costs of providing services for gun-related violence, are not covered by their commercial liability insurance policies. The court found the gun makers' insurance policies excluded property damage and injuries occurring away from the [...]

A Moscow court Thursday rejected the appeal of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky against his conviction on fraud and tax evasion charges, but reduced his nine-year sentence to eight years. The decision, which followed several postponements of the proceedings , came after just one day of arguments from the prosecution and defense. Khodorkovsky's lawyers [...]

Scotland Yard said Thursday that bombing suspect Hamdi Issac , also known as Hussain Osman, has been charged with attempted murder over the failed 21 July London bomb attacks . Issac was apprehended in Rome days after the failed attacks on the London subway and his case is seen by many as a test case [...]

An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced the last of six Muslim militants accused in the 2004 suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta to 10 years in prison for aiding those who carried out the attack. Syaiful Bahri was found guilty of violating anti-terrorism laws by "providing assistance" in the suicide bombing that killed [...]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission voted 5-0 at a public meeting Wednesday to give small public companies an additional extra year to comply with requirements to file reports on the strength of their internal financial controls under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 . As with last year's extension for small businesses , the SEC [...]