The Walt Disney Co. shareholder derivative lawsuit filed in May by nephew of founder Walt Disney and Disney shareholder Roy Disney was dropped Friday evening after the two sides came to agreement. Roy Disney and business partner Stanley Gold sued the company in May , claiming that the selection of new CEO Robert Iger as [...]

Imad Achab Kanouni, a French citizen once held in the American detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was released from French custody Friday. Top French anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere ordered Kanouni's release from French detention, where he had been held for a year after being returned to French custody. Kanouni had been apprehended by Pakistani police [...]

Italian police have arrested 142 people over the past two days in a security sweep to forestall potential terrorist attacks in the wake of the London bombings, according to a Saturday report from Italian news agency ANSA. Some 2,000 carabinieri policemen have been detailed to patrol subways, trains and other sites in the Milan area. [...]

UK Home Office Secretary Charles Clarke is sticking to his late fall timetable to introduce a new bill to combat terrorism despite pressure to push through laws now in the aftermath of the London bombings. Clarke has said the bill will impose sanctions on individuals caught preparing terrorist acts. Other subjects that may be covered [...]

Military judge Col. James Pohl ruled Friday that the statements Pfc. Lynndie England made to Army investigators in January 2004 regarding her actions in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal cannot be admitted as evidence in her trial. Pohl explained the ruling by saying he believes England did not completely understand the potential ramifications of speaking [...]

A three-judge panel of the Santiago Appeals Court ruled Friday that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is physically and mentally fit to stand trial for the alleged murders of brothers Hector and Guido Barria Bassay by agents of his regime in 1973. The ruling contradicts one a month ago by another panel of the appellate [...]

Carhart v. Gonzales, US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, July 8, 2005 . Excerpt: Because the Act does not contain a health exception, it is unconstitutional. We therefore do not reach the district court's conclusion of the Act imposing an undue burden on a woman's right to have an abortion. Read the full text of [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, Big Four accounting firm Deloitte is under investigation by federal regulators. Bloomberg News is reporting that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board accidentally released a private document to the media alleging that Deloitte's work for Navistar did not comply with established accounting standards. The board was established as [...]

Briefing on the medical treatment of US detainees, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Steve Jones and Army Surgeon General and Commander US Army Medical Command, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, July 7, 2005. Excerpt: The assessment findings include the following: the majority of medical personnel interviewed did not observe any abuse, [...]

Leading Friday's states brief, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision today that found the state's Department of Natural Resources cannot regulate groundwater unless the legislature confers such authority. Judge John Wright, writing for the majority, stated "The department has no common-law duty to regulate the use of groundwater in order to protect" [...]