Army staff sergeant Shane Werst was acquitted of murder Thursday for shooting unarmed Iraqi Naser Ismail after a trial that began Monday . Werst said he fired his weapon at the suspected insurgent during house raids in Iraq to save a fellow soldier when Ismail lunged for the soldier's weapon. After shooting him, Werst fired [...]

Four state lawmakers were indicted in Tennessee on Thursday for allegedly taking bribes from FBI agents posing as representatives of a fake electronics-recycling company. The agents gave payments to the lawmakers inducing them to sponsor a bill which would enable the company to buy and sell used electronic equipment from Tennessee. The bill was withdrawn [...]

The US Senate was forced to delay the vote on UN ambassador nominee John Bolton Thursday after Democrats demanded more information from the White House before agreeing to end their debate which began Wednesday and vote on the nomination. Democrats say that the Senate has not been given classified information on Bolton's current position as [...]

In what Interior Minister Habib al-Adli claimed was the largest turnout ever in a registered referendum, 83% of Egyptian voters have backed a change in election law that allows multi-candidate presidential elections. The high turnout was marred however by attacks from Egyptian police and demonstrators against anti-referendum activists, attacks which President Bush Thursday condemned as [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved a $140 billion asbestos compensation fund in a 13-5 vote. The controversial fund is to be paid for by companies facing asbestos litigation and their insurers in an effort to end asbestos injury lawsuits and victims will now appeal to the fund rather than sue in court. The [...]

The verdict reading for oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky continued into its ninth day Thursday. Khodorkovsky, former CEO of Russian oil firm Yukos , and his partner Platon Lebedev have been indicted for fraud and embezzlement . Issues addressed by the court on Thursday concerned the corporate tax evasion charges against both men. Defense lawyers believes [...]

Thailand's Constitutional Court Thursday found the members of Thailand's anti-corruption commission, the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) , guilty of illegally increasing their pay. The court, however, did not enforce possible two year jail sentences in light of all the good work the watchdog commission had done in the past. It is still unknown whether [...]

The judge presiding over the trial of former HealthSouth Corp CEO Richard Scrushy , attempted Wednesday to prevent the trial from ending in a mistrial or a hung jury. Scrushy is on trial for conspiracy, fraud, false reporting, and money laundering, though earlier counts of perjury against him have been dropped . The controversy surrounding [...]

The Federal Election Commission announced Thursday that the Democratic National Committee , the Rev. Jesse Jackson and two groups Jackson works closely will pay a total of $200,000 in civil fines for violations of campaign finance laws. The FEC investigated a total of $450,000 spent in the 2000 election campaign by Jackson with the Rainbow/PUSH [...]

The US House of Representatives has passed a $491 billion defense measure, HR 1815 , which among other things leaves any decisions on the placement of women in war zones up to the Pentagon pending Congressional approval. House Republicans had previously attempted to add an amendment to the bill which would limit womens' roles in [...]