A federal judge Wednesday granted bail for former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, allowing him to remain free while he appeals a conviction for his involvement in the $11 billion fraud scandal that led to the collapse of the company. Ebbers was to report to a Louisiana prison on Oct. 12 to begin his 25-year sentence [...]

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein reportedly admitted to ordering deadly attacks on Kurds in north Iraq, but he argued the attacks were legal because they were made in retribution, an Iraqi Special Tribunal official said Wednesday. The report appears to challenge the credibility of a sweeping claim made Tuesday by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in [...]

The Management of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, Independent Inquiry Committee, September 7, 2005. Excerpt (from an accompanying press release): "With respect to the Programme as a whole, the Committee's central conclusion is that the United Nations requires stronger executive leadership, thoroughgoing administrative reform, and more reliable controls and auditing." Read the full text of [...]

In Wednesday's environmental law news, the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a decision that found a 2010 deadline set by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to clean up soot and other particles fell within the guidelines established by the Clean Air Act . The Sierra Club and other [...]

President Bush paid tribute to the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist during his funeral service at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington Wednesday, saying in a eulogy that he would be remembered for the integrity and sense of duty he brought to his work. In her own address to the gathering of Rehnquist's friends and colleagues [...]

A proposed ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts can move forward after state Attorney General Tom Reilly ruled Wednesday that Article 48 of the state constitution allows voters to overturn court decisions. The ruling to allow the initiative means supporters can move forward in the lengthy process to have the initiative placed on [...]

US Army Sgt. Christopher W. Greatorex was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he beat a detainee at a facility at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan who later died from the injuries. A three-person military jury at Fort Bliss Texas acquitted Greatorex, of the 377th Military Police Company, on charges of abuse, maltreatment and making [...]

Children and pregnant women cannot be included in pesticide testing on humans, according to a proposed rule released Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency . Under the proposed regulations, an independent oversight board would be charged with ensuring that all studies used by the agency were ethically conducted and in accordance with international standards. Review [...]

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the European Parliament Wednesday that it may be necessary for EU member states to accept an erosion of some civil liberties in order to protect their countries from organized crime and terrorism. Addressing a parliamentary session on balancing rights and security, Clarke said that citizens' right to life should [...]

Chile's Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by deposed Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet of a lower court decision in July that stripped him of immunity from prosecution. Pinochet, 89, is accused of involvement in Operation Colombo, in which 119 political opponents were allegedly abducted and killed in 1975. The current case covers 16 [...]