In an annual report to Congress Friday, the US Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs revealed that the government applied for and was granted a record number of special warrants in 2004. The report submitted by Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella , revealed a 75 percent increase in the number of special warrants [...]

The US Department of Justice claimed Friday in court papers that contractors for the former Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq can be sued for profiteering under the Federal False Claims Act . Lawyers for the US government contend that the Act, enacted to curb war-profiteering, applies to contracts issued by the CPA from its inception [...]

US officials Friday went out of their way to explain why the United States Thursday evening did not veto a French-sponsored resolution referring war crimes in Sudan to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, long anathema to US policymakers. Echoing comments made by the US representative in the Council chamber immediately after the vote, [...]

A United Nations committee Friday adopted a draft of a new treaty to fight nuclear terrorism after years of negotiations. The draft defines acts of nuclear terrorism and strengthens the framework to combat it. The text now goes to the General Assembly for formal adoption, with the treaty opened for signature on 14 September. "The [...]

As anticipated , former US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger pleaded guilty Friday to illegally taking and destroying classified documents from the National Archives . The former Clinton Administration official acknowledged that he intentionally took and deliberately destroyed three copies of the same document dealing with terror threats during the 2000 millennium celebration and then [...]

Former Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland arrived Friday at Loretto , a minimum-security federal prison in Pennsylvania, to begin his year-long sentence for corruption of office. Rowland was sentenced two weeks ago to one year in prison, four months of house arrest, three years probation, and an $82,000 fine after pleading guilty last December . [...]

Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, the FBI has announced it has started an investigation into auto supplier, Delphi Corp. , over improper accounting at the firm. Delphi, which had launched an internal investigation into its accounting practices after receiving subpoenas from the SEC and Department of Justice (DOJ) , announced last month that [...]

Florida circuit judge Judge George Greer Friday denied a request from the St. Petersburg Times for the release of investigative summaries regarding alleged mistreatement of Terri Schiavo . The dozens of files in question are held by Florida's Department of Children & Families , which initiated investigations of possible abuse after medical scans on Terri [...]

US Department of Defense spokesmen have said that US forces in Iraq are holding a man with joint US and Jordanian citizenship who is said to be a senior operative for terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi. The unidentified suspect, who is the first American known to be captured fighting for the Iraq insurgency, is said [...]

Lawmakers in Rhode Island have said that they will consider amending the statewide smoking ban that took effect last month in light of a Newport Superior Court judge's Thursday ruling that certain exemptions in the law were irrational, and therefore unconstitutional. The Public Health and Workplace Safety Act includes temporary exemptions for certain establishments, including [...]