A new federal regulation issued Wednesday requires all passenger vehicles sold in the United States to have both shoulder and lap belts in the rear center seat by the 2008 model year. Most passenger vehicles already have the belt combination, but they exist in only about half of current pickup and sport utilities, many of [...]

The chief of Saddam Hussein's defense team claimed Wednesday that the former Iraqi dictator's first meeting with a defense lawyer had been canceled after American authorities exerted pressure on the Iraqi Special Tribunal set up to try him and other members of his regime. Ziad al-Khasawneh said in an interview that the Iraqi Bar Association [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a company that had used the term "micro color" to describe its cosmetic product did not have the burden of showing that there was no likelihood of consumers confusing that product with a similarly-named product by another manufacturer alleging trademark infringement, but rather than the plaintiff manufacturer had [...]

The US has rejected renewed calls to join the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, insisting that the pact, about to take effect in February 2005 in the wake of its recent ratification by Russia, is a "political agreements…not based on science." US climate change negotiator Harlan Watson told colleagues and media at the latest [...]

The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, Wednesday approved legislation initiated by President Vladimir Putin that would remove regional governors from direct election by the people and instead make their offices appointed, subject to ratification by regional assemblies. The Council vote is the penultimate step in the adoption of the countroversial law, [...]

A former US Marine staff sergeant testifying in support of a fellow American who fled to Canada in protest against being deployed to Iraq told the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board Tuesday that his unit in Iraq (3rd battalion, 7th Marines) had repeatedly and indiscriminately killed many women, children and other unarmed civilians in violation [...]

Automakers have launched a lawsuit against the nation's strictest set of vehicle emissions standards, approved earlier this year by the California Air Resources Board. The action, filed Tuesday, alleges that vehicle emissions standards are properly within the jurisdiction of the federal government. Defenders of the California standards and other state-made rules counter that while federal [...]

The UK House of Lords Tuesday defeated a government measure that would have redefined the centuries-old office of Lord Chancellor by no longer requiring the position to be held by someone who was both a lawyer and member of the British parliament's upper chamber. The government measure was presented as one to better ensure the [...]

A Florida judge Tuesday refused to stay a constitutional amendment approved by state voters last month that would require hospitals to release records relating to adverse medical incidents. Florida hospitals had asked for the amendment to be put on hold pending legislative clarification of precisely what records the amendment applied to and how those records [...]

Spanish authorities say they have arrested the "mastermind" of the Madrid train bombings of March 11 this year that killed almost 200 people. Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, an Egyptian national, was arrested by Italian police in Milan in June, but was formally extradited to Spain on Tuesday. Appearing briefly in Madrid's High Court before being [...]