PRAGOTI

Natives of the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia won't be allowed to return to the Chagos archipelago they left more than 35 years ago, following a ruling today by Britain's highest court, the House of Lords.

The London-based court upheld the British government's appeal in a 3-2 verdict, overturning earlier rulings by lower courts which held that the UK government wrongfully took away the islanders' "right of abode."

That right is a "creature of the law," wrote Lord Leonard Hoffman today. "The law gives it, and the law may take it away."