The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana began pre-trial hearings Friday, launching the federal liability case against Merck & Co. , producers of the painkilling product Vioxx . Dozens of lawyers, handling over one thousand lawsuits, entered the courtroom before Judge Eldon E. Fallon , who was assigned last month to coordinate [...]

The UN Security Council appears deadlocked on the Sudan issue after the United States and other countries argued again Thursday over the appropriate venue for criminal prosecutions of war crimes committed in Darfur. A majority of Council members support proceedings at the UN-associated International Criminal Court at The Hague, while the US – which has [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, the European Commission (EC) said Microsoft has failed to deliver on its commitment to comply with sanctions related to violations of European antitrust rules . Microsoft was accused of using its monopoly position to prevent competitors' products from working with their products. The EC is threatening Microsoft with [...]

Retail giant Wal-Mart agreed Friday to pay $11 million to settle US Department of Justice allegations that it had employed hundreds of illegal immigrants to perform janitorial services in 60 stores across the country. The DOJ investigation revealed that Wal-Mart employed over 345 illegal immigrants directly and through janitorial contractors. While Wal-Mart escaped criminal charges, [...]

Businessman Frans van Anraat has been formally charged by Dutch prosecutors with complicity in genocide for selling chemicals to Iraq that were used to produce poison gas by Saddam Hussein's government against Kurds. Prosecutors said that van Anraat, the first Dutch national to face prosecution for genocide, "was conscious of … the fact" that the [...]

Shiite and Kurdish negotiators say they may need another week to hammer out the shape of a new Iraqi government as factions in Iraq's new National Assembly struggle to build a coalition that will satisfy the majority clauses contained in the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) , the Iraqi interim constitution agreed to last year after [...]

The United Nations' investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resulted in the firing of one employee and the suspension without pay of six other civilian workers. Overall, 17 civilian staff members were investigated by the UN, with investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation of women and girls by [...]

WTSP-TV 10 in Tampa is reporting that Judge George Greer has refused to recognize US House subpoenas issued earlier today, allowing a feeding tube to be removed from Terri Schiavo as per a previous order. 1:55 PM ET – Judge Greer rejected the Congressional subpoenas (formal House subpoenas and a "legally binding" Senate invitation to [...]

WTSP-TV 10 in Tampa is reporting that the chief judge in Pinellas Country has issued a temporary stay on the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube past 1 PM ET until Judge Greer can be located for a 1:15 PM hearing (rescheduled from 12:30 PM) on the effect of subpoenas issued in the case . [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, the Indonesia Supreme Court has ruled that the detention of five Newmont Mining Co. executives last year was legal. The officials had been held in jail without charge for over 30 days last September and October while police investigated complaints against the company for possible mercury pollution in the Buyat [...]