Arthur Andersen , the former accounting giant which lost its licenses in the Enron collapse, announced a settlement on Monday with WorldCom investors who had accused the firm of violating securities laws and failing to protect them from WorldCom's $11 billion accounting fraud. Details of the settlement were not announced, and an expedited preliminary approval [...]

Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, Florida's insurance regulation commissioner announced subpoenas have been sent to officials at 17 insurance companies, including units of American International Group Inc. , Chubb Corp., Swiss Re AG , Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s unit National Indemnity Company of the South and Hannover Re AG , over a probe into [...]

Armenians around the world have been remembering the massacre of their people ninety years ago by the Ottoman Empire . Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the Armenian city of Yerevan Sunday to pay their respects. In the US, hundreds of Armenian-Americans marched in Los Angeles and other cities . On April 24, [...]

Report of the independent expert on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, M. Cherif Bassiouni, filed March 11 2005 and submitted to the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, April 21, 2005 . Excerpt: The independent expert has received accounts of actions that fall under the internationally accepted definition of torture. [...]

The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear Oregon v. Guzek (docket 04-928), a death sentence case involving a convicted murderer's efforts to bring evidence into his sentencing hearing that would cast doubt on the conviction. A ruling here could clarify the Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Franklin v. Lynaugh ; it could also have [...]

Following yet another interruption because of his health problems, the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic resumed Monday at the International Court Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia . Milosevic stayed out of court late last week after doctors warned him that he was at risk of a heart attack as his blood [...]

The Legislative Commission of the National People's Congress of China has presented a draft interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law that would permit a new Hong Kong Chief Executive to be elected to the remainder of the original executive term of his predecessor if that is cut short. Opposition leaders in Hong Kong are alleging [...]

A UK newspaper has disclosed that the legal advice rendered to Prime Minister Tony Blair's government on the eve of the Iraq war included multiple caveats that were not included in a one-page summary supporting the conflict that was released to Parliament at the time. A copy of the full report by UK Attorney General [...]

The top UN investigator in Afghanistan, M. Cherif Bassiouni , has been released from his post following his issuance Thursday of a report to the UN Commission on Human Rights heavily critical of US-led military forces in Afghanistan, alleging that they had made unlawful detentions and had not allowed human rights inspectors into detention and [...]

The US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics reported Sunday that prison incarceration rates for 2003 – 2004 hit an all-time high, with nearly 2.3 percent of the population being jailed for some length of time. The study showed that while crime is decreasing, the incarceration rate is far outstripping the release rate of [...]