A Texas grand jury has indicted a political action committee formed by US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and a Texas business group on charges relating to campaign contributions for DeLay's 2002 congressional campaign, though DeLay himself was not charged. Texans for a Republican Majority was charged with illegally accepting a $100,000 political contribution, and [...]

A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that a law requiring all convicted criminals to register for a state DNA database in New Jersey is constitutional. The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender had challenged the law saying that the mandatory sample was an unconstitutional search, but the court ruled Wednesday that "The minimal [...]

A lawsuit was filed in Germany Thursday against DaimlerChrysler by a shareholder who claims he was "short-changed" when the company failed to promptly disclose the early resignation of CEO Juergen Schrempp. The shareholder is arguing that if the information was made public when the decision was first made, rather than five weeks later, he could [...]

The Arbitration Appeals Court of Moscow rejected an appeal Thursday made by Russian oil company Yukos asking the court to freeze 76.79% of the shares of its former production unit Yuganskneftegaz . The appeal was submitted to dispute the sale of Yuganskneftegaz, which was auctioned off by the Russian government last year to satisfy back [...]

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has issued an executive order to delay all deadlines in court cases and other legal proceedings in the state from the date Hurricane Katrina hit until at least September 25. As reasons for the suspension, Blanco cited closed courthouses and attorney offices, destroyed materials, and evacuated clients. The deadline extension was [...]

Internet giant Yahoo defended itself Thursday against claims that the company aided China in the prosecution and ten-year imprisonment of journalist Shi Tao for divulging state secrets abroad. Yahoo's Hong Kong arm allegedly helped China link to the journalist's e-mail account and computer, where they found evidence that he sent an internal Communist Party message [...]

An Indonesian court convicted a Muslim cleric Thursday for assisting in the 2004 bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed twelve people and wounded over 200. Heri Sigu Samboja was found guilty of two counts of terrorism and sentenced to seven years in jail for helping to assemble the bomb and conducting surveillance [...]

A federal judge approved a $2.1 million civil settlement Wednesday for former Qwest Communications executive Gregory M. Casey, who was charged in a civil lawsuit for his alleged involvement in an accounting scheme that caused the company to restate billions in revenue. The settlement was reached in July with the US Securities and Exchange Commission [...]

Leaders of Canada's three opposition political parties said Thursday that the government should launch an expanded probe into situations where Canadian citizens have been investigated by federal authorities but tortured abroad, echoing a similar request made by human rights groups earlier this week. The request was prompted by the cases of Maher Arar and Ahmad [...]

A federal judge Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order stopping the Base Closure and Realignment Commission from removing fighter jets at Bradley Air National Guard base in Connecticut. Connecticut filed a lawsuit last month arguing that the proposed change, part of the Pentagon's base realignment plan, could not be made without the governor's approval. US [...]