Leading Thursday's corporations and securities brief, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced it will merge with rival Archipelago Holdings Inc. in a move which transforms the NYSE into a for-profit, publicly traded company. The NYSE, known for its busy trading floor, takes on all-electronic Archipelago to effectively compete with the Nasdaq Market Inc. and [...]

Prosecutors have finally charged Mexico City's popular mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with abuse of authority, a move that could threaten Obrador's run for president. A week after President Vicente Fox considered – then reconsidered a pardon, and two weeks after Lopez Obrador promised he would surrender to authorities when he was stripped of public [...]

The Israeli government has released a report setting material damages to the Jewish people during the Holocaust between $240 billion and $330 billion. The report is the first of its kind, including not only the value of looted Jewish property but also lost income and wages, as well as unpaid wages from forced Jewish labor. [...]

The US House of Presentatives voted late Wednesday to allow oil drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as part of new and wide-ranging energy legislation . The bill's sponsors claim the refuge will produce as much as a million barrels of oil a day which will help the country's growing dependence on [...]

The Texas House of Representatives has passed legislation which would bar homosexuals from becoming foster parents. The ban, part of the state's attempt to revamp its Child Protective Services Agency , passed 135-6 Tuesday with two abstentions and now goes to the state Senate. According to the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay rights [...]

Chicago Cardinal Francis George said Wednesday that new pope Benedict XVI , will preserve the church law giving bishops broad power to discipline sexually abusive priests. George said he had previously told then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the need to keep the law which avoids the lengthy Vatican process for ousting a priest from the church. [...]

The UN Human Rights Commission Thursday passed a resolution condemning rights abuses in Sudan. The final text, supported by the US, the EU, other African nations and even Sudan itself, only passed after a compromise was reached on wording that also praised the Sudanese government's efforts to improve the situation in Darfur . The resolution [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, April 21. The US Senate convenes at 9:30 AM ET today. It will begin an executive session at 10:30 AM ET to consider the nomination of John Negroponte as National Intelligence Director, and then resume consideration of H.R. 1268 [...]

Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, signed into law by President George W. Bush, April 21, 2005. Read the full text of the legislation as signed via THOMAS. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

School District of the City of Pontiac et al. v. Spellings, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, April 20, 2005 . Read the full text of the complaint . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.