Leading Friday's corporations and securities news, airline regulators have approved America West's merger with bankrupt US Airways. In a joint press release, the airlines announced that the Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) approved of the merger unanimously. The companies also said that the ATSB voted to allow the airlines to consolidate their combined $1 billion [...]

A UN legal expert has recommended urgent action be taken to restore the rule of law in Ecuador following last December's Congressional ouster of 27 of 31 Supreme Court judges . The Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on the independence of judges and lawyers , Leandro Despouy, concluded in a report [...]

Italy and France announced new security measures Friday designed to combat terrorism following the recent London bombings . Although neither nation has been the target of Islamic terrorists, both have tightened security on transit systems and are investigating ways to crack down on militants and gather information. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy announced "an increase [...]

The Japanese parliament passed a measure Friday giving Japanese Minister of State for Defense Yoshinori Ohno the legal power to shoot down incoming missiles without consulting the prime minister or cabinet. The bill, which passed in the lower house last month, is seen as a response to Japan's growing worry about North Korea's nuclear weapons [...]

Western intelligence security services believe that Ratko Mladic , who has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes, is still being protected by covert members of the Serbia-Montenegro army and is "running rings around" intelligence agencies seeking to capture him, UPI reported Friday. Eurofor , a NATO-supported group [...]

California Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian removed Proposition 77 , a redistricting plan by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger , from the November 7 state ballot Thursday, holding that supporters violated California's constitution by using two significantly different versions during the qualifying process. Attorney General Bill Lockyer told the court that the version used to gather voter [...]

AP is reporting that London police arrested a man Friday in the south London neighborhood of Stockwell, near where a suspect was shot earlier today , in connection with Thursday's bombing attacks . In related news, two men arrested Thursday on suspicion of involvement in the bombings have been released without charge. AP has more.

Leading Friday's international brief, the main political opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance , has called on South African President Thabo Mbeki to reject a request by Zimbabwean officials for financial aid to support the rapidly collapsing Zimbabwean economy. DA officials also called on Mbeki to formally denounce Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and [...]

Senior magistrates in Spain's Audiencia Nacional, the country's primary terrorist court, say that they are contemplating refusing to extradite Spanish nationals to Germany after German officials refused to extradite and later released Mamoun Darkazanli , a German national and suspected al-Qaeda financier wanted in Spain on terrorist charges. Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG) ruled [...]

The US Department of State urged senators Thursday not to pass the UN Reform Act of 2005 , legislation introduced by Senators Norm Coleman (D-MN) and Dick Lugar (R-IN) , that cuts the dues the US pays to the United Nations. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation introduced last month , voting to reduce [...]