Two class action lawsuits accusing major US investment banks of price-fixing practices during initial public offerings of technology stocks during the late 1990s were reinstated Wednesday by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals . The court wrote that the plaintiffs had alleged an "epic Wall Street conspiracy" on the part of Bear Stearns, Credit [...]

Many Iraqis on Wednesday expressed outrage after Pfc. Lynndie England , notorious for her role in abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday. Some accused the US of having a double standard, arguing that the sentence would have been more severe if England had been accused [...]

US Army investigators have not found sufficient evidence to charge any one for the release of graphic photos of Iraqi war casualties on the Internet, an Army spokesman said Wednesday. Although the Army Criminal Investigation Division is unlikely to file criminal charges, spokesman Paul Boyce said disciplinary action was possible under Article 134 of the [...]

The European Parliament Wednesday postponed a key vote on Turkey's potential membership in the bloc and also approved a resolution calling for Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide . EU legislators agreed by a 311-285 margin to delay ratification of a expanded Turkey-EU customs union out of frustration with Turkey's refusal to recognize Cyprus, part [...]

In Wednesday's environmental law news, the Swiss delegation at the Conference of the Parties of the Rotterdam Convention, currently meeting in Rome, has called for the Secretariats of three international environmental conventions to be combined into one headquarters. The Rotterdam Convention is aimed at regulating the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals, the Stockholm Convention [...]

Four Iraq war protesters have claimed victory after they were acquitted on federal conspiracy charges and convicted on lesser trespassing charges in the first federal conspiracy trial of anti-war protestors since the Vietnam War. The group, known as the St. Patrick's Four , were arrested after throwing blood on the walls of a Army recruitment [...]

A federal judge has ruled that a decision by the Arizona License Plate Commission to reject "choose life" license plates supported by pro-life groups in the state did not violate the constitutional rights of the groups. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt held that the Commission's decision did not violate the free speech and equal protection [...]

Dutch prosecutors have begun to try 250 of the almost 50,000 people fined for failure to produce valid identification since the country's ID law came into effect on January 1, 2005. The law, intended to stop terrorism and passed in the wake of the murder of outspoken filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by an Islamic extremist, [...]

Over seventy percent of Iranian MPs Wednesday supported a draft bill to suspend International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of the country's nuclear facilities until the UN watchdog acknowledges Iran's right to pursue nuclear technology. The move is in response to a recent IAEA resolution declaring Iran in "non-compliance" with safeguards required by the nuclear [...]

AP is reporting that a Texas grand jury has issued an indictment for US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay . Earlier this month, an indictment was issued against a political action committee formed by DeLay and a Texas business group on charges relating to campaign contributions for DeLay's 2002 congressional campaign. Subsequently, two campaign group [...]