Iran's influential parliament speaker dismissed allegations that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, calling the claims by an opposition leader "sheer lies," state-run media reported Wednesday. Ali Larijani said that a special panel of Iran's parliament, or Majlis, conducted a "precise and comprehensive inquiry" into the treatment at Tehran's Evin and Kahrizak prisons, and found "no cases of rape or sexual abuse," Press TV reported. Larijani's fiery response was to accusations made by opposition candidate Mehdi Karrubi who, along ...

Three more men were charged Wednesday with conspiring to carry out a terrorist act on a military base, bringing the total to four, police in Victoria, Australia, said. Police arrested them early Tuesday while executing 19 search warrants in nine Melbourne neighborhoods as part of the investigation into a group suspected of having ties to Al-Shabaab, a Somali insurgent group with links to al Qaeda, authorities said. The three suspects charged Wednesday were a 26-year-old Carlton man, a 25-year-old Preston ...

A sailor accused of killing another sailor was found dead in his cell in a southern California military jail, officials said Friday. Petty Officer Jonathan Campos was found dead in the brig at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, a military statement said. The cause of death was self-inflicted asphyxiation, according to the statement. Campos had been charged with murder in the June 30 shooting death of Seaman August Provost. Provost was killed while he was standing ...

A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN the state attorney's office believes there were two motives in the home invasion murder of Florida couple Byrd and Melanie Billings -- robbery and a contracted hit. The Escambia County Sheriff's Office had said it believed robbery was the prime motive, but that it would explore all avenues. The source said the state attorney's office is working under the belief that most of the suspects in the case thought they were ...

A Boston police officer who sent a mass e-mail referring to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as a "banana-eating jungle monkey" has apologized, saying he's not a racist. Officer Justin Barrett told a Boston television station on Wednesday night that he was sorry for the e-mail. "I regret that I used such words," Barrett told CNN affiliate WCVB-TV. "I have so many friends of every type of culture and race you can name. I am not a racist." Barrett ...

The co-pilot of a plane that crashed in Buffalo, New York, in February was feeling ill and had considered backing out of the flight, according to a cockpit voice recorder transcript released Monday by the National Transportation Safety Board. "You know, we'll see how it feels flying," First Officer Rebecca Shaw said as the plane prepared for takeoff. "If the pressure's just too much, I, you know, I could always call in tomorrow." She added, "I'm pretty tough." At a ...

Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, administered a powerful drug that authorities believe killed the singer, a source close to the Jackson family and with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to CNN on Monday.

Every year about this time, bluefish school off the New Jersey shore. For fishermen in the right spot, it's often a stunning abundance of fortune. One minute they're waiting patiently for a bite, and the next they can hook a bluefish with live bait, lures, a piece of baloney on a hook. The fish just can't help themselves. Federal agents must have felt like those fishermen during the investigation that eventually took down 44 people in one of the largest ...

The New Jersey officials and their associates charged in a federal probe of public corruption exchanged hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in parking lots, restaurants, boiler rooms and bathrooms, an acting U.S. attorney said Thursday. The investigation netted 44 defendants -- 29 on corruption charges and 15 for alleged money laundering, acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra Jr. said at a news conference. Defendants were to begin appearing Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Newark. Among the 15 ...

A Ukrainian general has been arrested in connection with the murder of a journalist nearly nine years ago, the country's president said Wednesday. Gen. Alexei Pukach was detained Tuesday in connection with the killing of Georhiy Gongadze, who was abducted in September 2000 and later found decapitated. The Gongadze killing is the country's most important criminal case, President Viktor Yushchenko said in a statement on his Web site. Organizations ranging from the European Union to the Committee to Protect Journalists ...