The US Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday temporarily waived certain regulatory fuel standards required under the Clean Air Act in an attempt to head off any shortages and rising prices caused by Hurricane Katrina. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson initially waived the standards for four states directly impacted by the hurricane, but then extended it to the [...]
EU diplomats said Wednesday that the European Union may hold off on calls for sanctions against Iran if the country is referred to the UN over its continued nuclear activity. The UN has set a deadline for Saturday by which Iran must halt its atomic fuel production, but Iran has given no indications that it [...]
A California state prison inmate who led a radical Islamist group and three others were indicted Wednesday on charges that they were plotting terror attacks on several sites in Los Angeles. The indictment charges Levar Haley Washington, Gregory Vernon Patterson, Hammad Riaz Samana and Kevin James with conspiring to wage war against the US government [...]
A high-level Food and Drug Administration official resigned Wednesday to protest the agency's delay in deciding whether to approve emergency contraception pills for over-the-counter sale. Susan Wood, director of the FDA Office of Women's Health , announced her resignation and reasoning in an e-mail to colleagues at the FDA, which was subsequently leaked. The agency [...]
Attorneys general from California, New Mexico and Oregon have challenged a decision by the US Forest Service to allow road building and other development on more than 58.5 million acres of national forest previously protected. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said allowing construction of roads on the lands would pave the way for mining and [...]
A Texas law requiring doctors to get parental consent for minors seeking abortions will take effect Thursday even though the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners hasn't finalized the specifics of how doctors should comply with it. The Texas Parental Consent Act is one of many abortion laws that have been passed by state legislatures [...]
Lebanon on Wednesday released a former lawmaker questioned in the investigation into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . Nasser Qandil, a pro-Syrian legislator, refused to comment on what he told investigators after he turned himself in Tuesday to the UN commission investigating the killing after a warrant was issued for his arrest. [...]
Officials struggled Wednesday to control looting in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as tiring law enforcement officers and National Guardsmen undertook more rescue and relief efforts. Widespread looting throughout the city has been reported, with crowds of people stealing food, clothing and other supplies in demand. Terry Ebbert, homeland security chief for [...]
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday approved changes to procedures for military commissions used for trying certain detainees held at Guantanamo Bay . The changes to Military Commission Order No. 1 primarily increase the role played by the presiding officer, while reducing that of other panel members on the commissions. Presiding officers on [...]
Indonesia released over 1,400 Achenese rebel inmates Wednesday, granting them blanket amnesty in accordance with a decree signed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Tuesday night. The newly freed prisoners have agreed to honor their monumental peace accord with the Indonesian government, which allowed the rebels to form a local political party in exchange for [...]
