A panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that portion of a California law giving consumers the right to block banks from selling their personal information to other institutions is preempted by federal law. The court considered whether the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) trumps the California Financial Information Privacy [...]

The controversial confirmation of UN ambassador nominee John Bolton. stalled in the Senate again late Monday after Republicans failed, in a 54-38 vote, to gain the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture and commence a roll call. Earlier today, President Bush called on Senators to vote on Bolton’s nomination, and rebuked requests for more information [...]

Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, General Electric Company has been subpoenaed by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. In a press release issued Monday, GE said that the subpoena is part of an on-going government probe into the reinsurance and finite risk industry. AP has more. In other [...]

In a closed door meeting Monday, US District Judge Gladys Kessler urged the government and tobacco company executives to settle the multibillion dollar racketeering lawsuit filed by the Justice Department 5 years ago. In the suit, the government alleges that tobacco manufactures violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by conspiring to downplay [...]

Leading Monday's states brief, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ordered its criminal practice committee to assess whether financial records should be given more protection as a matter of public policy. In upholding the conviction of a woman whose bank records were subpoenaed and shown to a jury, the Supreme Court found that privacy protections [...]

Leading Monday's international brief, Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Chirau Mwakwere has announced that Kenya would actively be seeking to obtain one of the two permanent regional seats for Africa under the current proposed reform plans for the UN Security Council . The reform plan calls for the addition of 10 Security Council seats, 6 [...]

Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas has been sentenced to 15 years for bank fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy. 5:02 PM ET – AP is reporting that former Adelphia chief financial officer Timothy Rigas has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bloomberg has more.

Having last week reached a deal on Sunni representation on the parliamentary committee to draft the Iraqi constitution , Iraqi politicians are now debating over who exactly should be named to the new seats. Sunni leaders have submitted a list of 15 candidates for the positions with full voting rights, but without getting support for [...]

A new report released by the World Health Organization on Monday urges countries to pass laws protecting the mentally ill, a group categorized by a WHO press release as "among the most vulnerable and the least legally protected". The report says almost a quarter of all countries have no mental health law, and many more [...]

President Bush on Monday demanded a vote in the Senate on his nomination of John Bolton as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, and White House officials would not rule out the possibility of a recess appointment to sidestep the Senate if necesary. Senate Democrats last week rejected a new Republican compromise offer on [...]