A man who lit himself on fire Monday in front of the White House was a key government witness in the case against Sheik Ali Hassan al-Moayad, who is accused of raising millions for terror groups including al-Qaida, defense attorneys for al-Moayad have said. Mohammed Alanssi, a 52-year-old Virginia resident, is in serious condition, a [...]

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, the current ruling party in the nation's Diet, has finished a draft proposal of reforms to the country's constitution. Included in the proposed reforms are specific changes to the structure and purpose of the nation's military, which has been defined as purely a self-defense force since the end of World War [...]

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is "very concerned" by a fatal shooting of an apparently unarmed and wounded Iraqi man in a Fallujah mosque by a US soldier, Allawi's office said Wednesday. US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte expressed regret over the shooting Wednesday and said the US was investigating the incident. Negroponte said the [...]

Larry Ribstein, University of Illinois College of Law: "The Disney trial on the hiring and firing of Ovitz continued yesterday with Eisner's direct testimony. As previewed here, Eisner will have to draw a fine line between justifying hiring Ovitz, and justifying firing him so soon after, without cause. Eisner's direct testimony draws a complex picture [...]

An administrative law judge presiding over a California Public Utilities Commission investigation has concluded that Southern California Gas Company should forfeit $28.8 million in profits earned during the 2000-2001 energy crisis in California, according to a report released late Tuesday. If approved by the full commission, the finding would make Southern California Gas the first [...]

Both the EU and Iran Wednesday sought to condition a tentative agreement on Iran's suspension of uranium enrichment on further cooperation between both sides. Iran warned that it would halt its suspension if further progress was not made when it meets with European leaders in December, while the EU cautioned Iran that it could still [...]

Two senior insurance underwriters with Zurich Financial Services, the third-largest commercial insurer in the US, pleaded guilty Tuesday night to charges connected to NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's ongoing insurance bid-rigging investigation. Also Tuesday, Zurich reported receiving a subpoena from the SEC and Spitzer. The executives pleaded guilty to following instructions from brokers to submit [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, November 17. On Capitol Hill, the US Senate will meet at 9:30 AM ET and will begin consideration of the Debt Limit Extension Bill (S 2986). Watch a live webcast (via C-SPAN)…. The US House will convene at 10 [...]

After a tense two-hour meeting Tuesday evening, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) appears to have won the support of some important GOP peers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, seemingly securing the committee chairmanship that will open when term limits force the resignation of Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in January. Specter's comments cautioning President Bush against the [...]

Filling the vacancy left when Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced his resignation on Monday, President Bush will nominate domestic policy advisor and longtime confidante Margaret Spellings to fill the top post in the Department of Education, according to White House sources. Spellings was Bush's education advisor for six years in Texas, putting together programs [...]