Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi Thursday warned the Shiite coalition victorious in last month's election against banning the Ba'ath Party formerly associated with Saddam Hussein from any involvement in government, saying that would cause even greater upheaval and unrest in the region. In an AP interview, Allawi appealed for national unity, and urged the [...]

Leading Thursday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC has concluded Bear Stearns Cos. , the sixth-largest US securities firm, violated federal laws which protect investors when it aided brokers in making illegal after-hours mutual-fund trades. The SEC may announce today that it has reached a settlement with Brean Murray & Co. , a New [...]

The US House of Representatives has approved the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 , a bill intended to curb class action lawsuits by transfering most large, multi-state class actions to federal courts. The bill now goes to President Bush for expected signature. AP has more. 2:20 PM ET – House Judiciary Committee chairman James [...]

Six Rwandan citizens have filed a lawsuit in France against French soldiers for their role in the Rwanda genocide . The Paris army tribunal, the only court which can try French troops for conduct committed abroad, will decide whether to take the case. According to the plaintiffs, French troops allowed Rwandan troops and Hutu extremists [...]

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz Thursday ordered a halt to the razing of homes of Palestinian suicide bombers after a committee report showed that the policy had little deterrent effect and inflamed tensions with Palestinians. The policy was initiated in 2002 in an attempt to deter terrorists who did not want to leave their families [...]

A British permanent resident being held at Guantanamo Bay has been blinded in one eye after an assault by guards at the prison, according to his lawyer. UK human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith said that Omar Deghayes lost sight in one eye after prison guards put pepper spray in his eyes and gouged one [...]

In Thursday's international law brief, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour presented the findings of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Conflict in Darfur to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, stating that the only 'credible way' to address the atrocities was to try those accused of serious human rights abuses before [...]

Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said Thursday that he had decided to close a three-year investigation into a campaign funding scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , citing insufficient evidence. Sharon's son and close advisor Omri Sharon has, however, will be indicted on criminal charges including fraud, breach of trust, and perjury. Omri Sharon's [...]

CBS News is reporting that President Bush is naming John Negroponte , US ambassador to Iraq and former US ambassador to the UN, as the nation's first National Intelligence Director ] under the new intelligence reform legislation signed into law late last year. Watch a live webcast from the White House.

New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch said Thursday that new documents it recovered in Iraq after the US-led invasion show that Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in the gassing of Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s, was involved in the massacre of at least 120 men during a [...]