The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration, The Associated Press has learned.

Two law enforcement officials said Tuesday the FBI is looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurer American International Group Inc. Additionally, a senior law enforcement official said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. also is under investigation.

The inquiries will focus on the financial institutions and the individuals that ran them, the senior law enforcement official said.

Source: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/09/24/fbi_investigating_companies_at_heart_of_meltdown/

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A US senator known for ferreting out conflicts of interest in medical research yesterday accused a prominent Tufts University heart specialist of crossing an ethical line by working simultaneously for the federal government, Tufts Medical Center, and a private heart-device company.

...The ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and others are troubled by gaps in the oversight of federally funded researchers, arguing that their ties to companies that make drugs or medical devices could skew their tax payer-funded research.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/09/24/tufts_doctor_is_chided_on_ethics/

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The UN's atomic watchdog says it has removed seals and surveillance cameras from North Korea's main nuclear complex at Pyongyang's request.

North Korea says the move is part of a plan to reactivate the Yongbyon plant, and that it plans to return nuclear material to the site next week.

The move comes amid a dispute over an international disarmament-for-aid deal.

A similar step in 2002 sparked a crisis which eventually resulted in Pyongyang testing a nuclear weapon in 2006.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7633140.stm