Retail giant Wal-Mart agreed Friday to pay $11 million to settle US Department of Justice allegations that it had employed hundreds of illegal immigrants to perform janitorial services in 60 stores across the country. The DOJ investigation revealed that Wal-Mart employed over 345 illegal immigrants directly and through janitorial contractors. While Wal-Mart escaped criminal charges, [...]

Businessman Frans van Anraat has been formally charged by Dutch prosecutors with complicity in genocide for selling chemicals to Iraq that were used to produce poison gas by Saddam Hussein's government against Kurds. Prosecutors said that van Anraat, the first Dutch national to face prosecution for genocide, "was conscious of … the fact" that the [...]

Shiite and Kurdish negotiators say they may need another week to hammer out the shape of a new Iraqi government as factions in Iraq's new National Assembly struggle to build a coalition that will satisfy the majority clauses contained in the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) , the Iraqi interim constitution agreed to last year after [...]

The United Nations' investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resulted in the firing of one employee and the suspension without pay of six other civilian workers. Overall, 17 civilian staff members were investigated by the UN, with investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation of women and girls by [...]

WTSP-TV 10 in Tampa is reporting that Judge George Greer has refused to recognize US House subpoenas issued earlier today, allowing a feeding tube to be removed from Terri Schiavo as per a previous order. 1:55 PM ET – Judge Greer rejected the Congressional subpoenas (formal House subpoenas and a "legally binding" Senate invitation to [...]

WTSP-TV 10 in Tampa is reporting that the chief judge in Pinellas Country has issued a temporary stay on the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube past 1 PM ET until Judge Greer can be located for a 1:15 PM hearing (rescheduled from 12:30 PM) on the effect of subpoenas issued in the case . [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, the Indonesia Supreme Court has ruled that the detention of five Newmont Mining Co. executives last year was legal. The officials had been held in jail without charge for over 30 days last September and October while police investigated complaints against the company for possible mercury pollution in the Buyat [...]

In eleventh-hour attempts to prevent the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube scheduled for 1 PM Friday, US congressional committees Friday morning called hearings and issued subpoenas that could procedurally delay the withdrawal. The Senate Health Committee chaired by Mike Enzi called Schiavo and her husband Michael to testify at a March 28 hearing on [...]

Robert and Mary Schindler v. Michael Schiavo, Emergency Stay of Enforcement of Judgment Below Pending Certiorari, filed in the Supreme Court of the United States, March 17, 2005. Excerpt: On February 25, 2005, the Probate Division of the Circuit Court of Pinellas County, Florida, entered an order mandating the removal of nutrition and hydration from [...]

In an effort to counter opponents of this summer's scheduled pullout from the Gaza Strip , the Israeli government Friday banned new settlers from moving into the area. The ban came in the form of an Israeli army order "signed in accordance with the decision made by the political echelon and part of the preparations [...]