Sheik Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, a prominent Sunni cleric of the Association of Muslim Scholars , urged President Jalal Talabani on Friday to fulfill an earlier promise to pardon some 10,500 insurgents imprisoned by US forces. His remarks, stating that Talabani should not "obey and kneel to pressure" was made during Friday prayers, only three [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, defense contractor Raytheon Company has announced that it's placed chief financial officer Edward S. Pliner and another employee on administrative leave and also offered to settle a SEC inquiry into accounting practices of its commuter aircraft business. Raytheon offered to pay $12 million as part of the settlement [...]

Dutch Minister for European Affairs Atzo Nicolai said Friday that the scheduled June 1 Netherlands referendum on the European constitution will not be delayed in the event of a French rejection of the pact. France's referendum is scheduled for May 29 and there is growing concern that French voters will reject the EU constitutional treaty. [...]

Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are urging the United States to drop its opposition to a third term for current Director General Mohamed ElBaradei . The US has become increasingly displeased with ElBaradei due to what the US sees as a lack of cooperation on Iraq and Iran and was reported [...]

The US Senate unanimously approved a measure Thursday evening that would bar government agencies from using taxpayer funds to produce video press releases disguised as real news. The amendment , whose purpose is to "prohibit the use of funds by any Federal agency to produce a prepackaged news story without including in such story a [...]

Leading Friday's international brief, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque announced Friday that Cuba rejected the UN Human Rights Commission resolution calling on Cuba to allow a special envoy to visit the island nation to investigate abuses. Cuba has been subject to an annual condemnation from the UN Human Rights Commission, but has never allowed [...]

The hopes of Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for a presidential run in the 2006 national election remained uncertain Friday after a strange turn of events Thursday that saw current Mexican president Vicente Fox do an apparent about-face on the possibility of a pardon on criminal charges related to his alleged involvement in [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, a number of environmental groups have filed a complaint in federal court in San Francisco that alleges 14 government agencies have violated the US Energy Policy Act , which requires that 75 percent of the new cars and light trucks they purchase run on alternative fuel, such as natural gas, [...]

Human Rights Watch said in a new report Friday that governments in both North America and Europe have negligently relied upon promises of humane treatment in order to transfer terror suspects to states with well-established records of torture. The 91-page report entitled Stiil at Risk claims that countries such as the United States, United Kingdom [...]

Florida circuit judge George Greer ordered the Florida Department of Children and Families on Thursday to release the records of its investigation into allegations that Terri Schiavo was abused prior to her death. Greer ruled that DCF must release the records to the public no later than Monday, noting that the public has an interest [...]