An official with Iran's Guardian Council said early Saturday local time that hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a commanding lead over former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the country's run-off presidential election. With roughly 12.9 million of 22 million ballots counted, Ahmadinejad had taken 61% of the vote, thanks largely to widespread support among [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, affiliates of both Sprint and Nextel plan legal action relating to the companies' planned merger. In a filing with the SEC today, Nextel Partners , a Washington state company that distributes Nextel services, declared its intention to vote on forcing a stock buy-out by the new company. US [...]

Leading Friday's states brief, Florida Governor Jeb Bush Friday signed legislation overhauling Florida's state growth and development guidelines for the first time in twenty years. The legislation calls for $1.5 billion of state money to be spent on highways, water facilities and classrooms in the next year. Senate bills 360 , 444 , and 362 [...]

Leading Friday's international brief, the special criminal tribunal created by the Sudanese government to begin the process of trying individuals alleged to have committed war crimes in Darfur is reportedly questioning its legal status to try certain individuals in light of the recently opened investigation by the International Criminal Court . Several Sudanese government ministers [...]

Iran state television announced Friday that the Iranian Interior Ministry would extend the polling hours of the country's second presidential runoff election for the fifth time. The voting started at 9 AM local time and was scheduled to end at 7 PM, but has now been extended until 11 PM at the request of many [...]

The World Tribunal on Iraq on Friday accused the US of committing war crimes during the invasion of Iraq and claimed the United States has caused more deaths in Iraq than former dictator Saddam Hussein. The tribunal, a group of NGOs, intellectuals, and legal experts with no binding authority is based on so-called Russell Tribunal [...]

Iranian Interior Ministry officials said Friday that intimidation and other abuses were impairing the presidential run-off election between relative moderate and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and hard-liner and mayor of Tehran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . The Interior Ministry, dominated by Rafsanjani supporters, has requested that some polling locations be closed because of irregularities, such as [...]

Chief of Staff to UN-Secretary General Kofi Annan Mark Malloch Brown told AP Friday that the UN will ask France to pursue a former UN employee accused in the murders of 32 Rwandans during the genocide of 1994, after pressure on Rwandan authorities has yielded little success. Callixte Mbarushimana , who has lived in France [...]

A judge has added $130 million to the $1.45 billion verdict against Morgan Stanley a jury awarded last month to billionaire financier and Revlon Inc. chairman Ron Perelman. The judge took off about $84.5 million because of previous settlements, but added more than $208 million in interest. Perelman attorney, Jack Scarola said he believed a [...]

In a White House press conference Friday with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari , President Bush reiterated his goal of sticking to the scheduled timetable for a permannet Iraqi constitution which contemplates completion of a a draft by August 15, a referendum on the draft by October 15, and a new election under the [...]