Connecticut's secretary of state ended her bid for attorney general Tuesday, hours after losing a lawsuit she filed against her own office in an effort to prove that she is qualified to be the state's top prosecutor.

Democrat Susan Bysiewicz said in a statement she is tremendously disappointed with the state Supreme Court's unanimous decision that she is not legally qualified to hold the job now occupied by Richard Blumenthal. She said she strongly disagrees with the decision but that she respects the rule of law.

Connecticut law requires the attorney general to have worked 10 years as a lawyer. Bysiewicz had argued that her 11 years as secretary of the state and six years as a corporate lawyer in Connecticut should count.

Republicans maintain that Bysiewicz's tenure as secretary of the state should not count. A lower court had ruled that Bysiewicz had met the requirement. The state GOP then appealed to the state's highest court.

Microsoft Corp. sued Salesforce.com Inc. yesterday, accusing the company of infringing nine patents for ways to make software more efficient.

The complaint targets the customer-relationship management software that is the hallmark of Salesforce.com’s business. It seeks a court order that would prevent the San Francisco-based company from providing features that Microsoft claims it invented.

Salesforce.com, founded in 1999, sells subscriptions to Internet business software that runs marketing campaigns and tracks sales leads. It competes against Microsoft’s Dynamics programs and “has profited through infringement of the Microsoft patents-in-suit,” according to the complaint, filed in federal court in Seattle.

“More and more, we’re seeing Dynamics compete with Salesforce in deals,” said Ray Wang, an analyst with Altimeter Group in San Mateo, California. “Long term, Salesforce and Microsoft are on a collision course for all enterprise software.”

The U.N.'s highest court says Honduras has dropped a case accusing Brazil of meddling in its internal affairs by allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya to stay at one of its embassies in 2009.

The International Court of Justice, widely known as the World Court, said Wednesday that Honduras asked to withdraw the case on April 30 and the request was granted May 12.

An intermim administration that came to power in Honduras after a coup filed the case back October 2009 while Zelaya was holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Brazil then viewed Zelaya as Honduras' lawfully elected president.

Zelaya now lives in the Dominican Republic and is trying to negotiate a reconciliation that recognizes current Honduran President Porfirio Lobo.

The man accused of plotting to kill Americans with a car bomb in Times Square appeared relaxed and obedient in his first appearance in a Manhattan courtroom, where he was told by a magistrate judge that he had the right to remain silent.

Authorities say Faisal Shahzad's willingness to talk kept him out of court for two weeks, speeding up the progress of an investigation into his May 1 plot to set off a homemade car bomb on a spring Saturday evening amidst hundreds of people enjoying the tourist haven.

Authorities said shortly after Shahzad's May 3 arrest that he had admitted driving the SUV bomb into Times Square and told authorities he had received terror training during a recent five-month trip to Pakistan.

His cooperation did not eliminate the need to bring him to court Tuesday to face five charges, including attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, each of which carry potential penalties of life in prison.

Three of nine members of a Midwestern militia who are accused of conspiring to overthrow the government likely will be released from jail Tuesday until trial, a defense attorney said.

Prosecutors notified attorneys for Tina Stone, David Stone Jr., and Jacob Ward that they intended to withdraw their opposition to a judge's order releasing the three, lawyer Michael Rataj said.

"I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. They want to let her out," said Rataj, who represents Tina Stone. "Why they approached me and lawyers for two other defendants, I don't know."

The three were to appear Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Detroit, said Rod Hansen, a spokesman for the court.

Prosecutors will continue to oppose the release of the other six and met a Monday deadline to file new court papers with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts ordered the release of all nine members until trial under strict conditions, including electronic monitors. But the government appealed her ruling, and the 6th Circuit suspended it May 10.

Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, agreed to pay VirnetX Holding Corp. $200 million and license technology to communicate privately over the Internet, ending a patent dispute.

“We believe that this successful resolution of our litigation with Microsoft will allow us to focus on the upcoming pilot system” for a virtual private network, Chief Executive Officer Kendall Larsen said yesterday in a statement.

VirnetX, which won a $105.8 million jury verdict in its patent-infringement lawsuit in March, was seeking a court order to block Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft from continuing to use the technology in its Windows operating system and Communications Server. The jury award also could have been tripled by the court’s judge.

Microsoft argued at trial that the patents were valued at no more than $15 million. Investors bet the patents were worth more, driving Scotts Valley, California-based VirnetX’s share price up almost 300 percent in the past 12 months. VirnetX had a market value of $267.9 million, based on the May 14 price.

VirnetX had been public in its desire to be bought to resolve the dispute. The agreement in which it obtained the patents from defense contractor SAIC Inc. included a provision that SAIC would get 10 percent of any proceeds if VirnetX were acquired by Microsoft, according to a company regulatory filing.

The patents relate to use of a domain-name service to set up virtual private networks, through which a website owner can interact with a customer in a secure way or an employee can work at home and access a company’s files. The technology stemmed from work performed for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to develop secure communications, VirnetX said.

Prominent Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger called "absurd" any suggestion the shot fired by police officer during a raid that killed a 7-year-old girl Sunday morning was the result of an altercation between the cop and the girl's grandmother.

Fieger said today at an hour-long press conference he has filed lawsuits on behalf of the family of slain Aiyana Jones in both federal and state courts. The federal lawsuit argues the police violated the girl's constitutional rights and it seeks an award of more than $75,000. The state suit contains four counts and seeks damages in excess of $25,000.

Fieger said a three-minute video taken of the raid shows the gunshot fired came from the porch of the two-story duplex on the 4000 block of Lillibridge shortly after a "flash-bang" grenade was thrown into the home, contradicting police accounts.