USA
In his first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee since his Nov. 9 swearing-in, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Wednesday he didn't think it "appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment" on the legality of waterboarding, a controversal interrogation technique. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont accused Mukasey of ducking questions.
An appeals court in Cincinnati Wednesday ruled against accused Nazi guard John Demjanjuk, saying a US immigration judge had the authority to order the retired Ohio autoworker deported to his native Ukraine.
NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani conducted a riskier-than-usual spacewalk Wednesday to fix one of two equipment failures that have crippled the International Space Station's power system and threatened to stall construction.
The House voted Tuesday to extend for 15 days an expiring antiterror surveillance law, which the Senate must now take up. The main issue is whether telecommunications companies that participated in President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program should be retroactively immune to lawsuits.
Margaret Truman Daniel, who died Tuesday in Chicago, was the only child of President Truman, who famously took umbrage with a newspaper critic who panned one of her vocal recitals. She left careers as a singer and radio and TV host to become a successful mystery writer. Above, Margaret (l.) joined her dad at the piano during a 1952 campaign stop.
Illinois lawmakers voiced strong opposition Tuesday to the US Department of Energy's decision to pull its support for building a $1.8 billion emissions-free coal plant in Mattoon, Ill. The DOE wanted the project to be redesigned to cut costs.
A fourth winter storm in quick succession was expected on Idaho's "doorstep" Thursday, meteorologists said of a powerful weather system that has enveloped much of the West and northern Plains. Above, Marlee Gould of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, peered out from a snow-dotted mask while waiting at a bus stop.
Samaritan's Feet, a Christian charity based in Charlotte, N.C., reports that it has received over 100,000 pairs of new shoes for children in third-world countries as the result of an unusual promotion. Ron Hunter, a Division I basketball coach at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), coached a game last week barefooted to bring attention to millions of shoeless children.
