The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unanimously in Jones v. Harris Associates that a shareholder does not have to show that a fund's investment adviser misled the fund's directors in order to have a cognizable claim of an excessive fee under § 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 . The US Court [...]

The number of countries using the death penalty continued to drop during 2009, according to an annual report published Monday by Amnesty International (AI) . According to the report, more than 700 people were executed last year in 18 countries, with the most executions carried out in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the US. Regionally, [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Monday that patents held on two genes linked to hereditary ovarian and breast cancer are invalid. The ruling was in response to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) on behalf [...]

The Hague Appeals Court on Tuesday upheld the UN's immunity from prosecution by rejecting claims brought by relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict. The relatives, known as the Mothers of Srebrenica, alleged that the Netherlands should be liable for the deaths because Dutch soldiers operating under the UN flag [...]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday maintained that Turkey should become a European Union (EU) "preferred partner" rather than continue as a candidate country for EU accession. Turkey has only opened 12 of the 35 chapters toward accession to the EU , and continues to face diplomatic challenges that compromise its bid towards accession. In [...]

Former International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) senior vice president Robert Moffat pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and securities fraud charges stemming from his involvement in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in US history. US Attorney Preet Bharara said, " willfully ignored his professional and legal responsibilities," and provided inside information in breach of [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in two cases. In Renico v. Lett , the court heard arguments on whether double jeopardy is violated by a new trial after a state trial court declared a mistrial due to the jury's inability to reach a verdict. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth [...]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a bill Monday re-implementing a ban on human cloning in Russia, according to the Kremlin Press Service. The bill, which replaces a previous ban on human cloning that expired in 2007, prohibits attempts to clone human beings until the state determines how to regulate the practice. The bill does not [...]

Some forms of online piracy in France are on the rise in spite of the recently passed anti-piracy law , according to a March study conducted by the Marsouin Unit at the University of Rennes . While 15 percent of individuals using Peer-to-Peer networking have stopped using such sites, Internet piracy has increased by 3 [...]

A federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday returned a five-count indictment against nine suspected members of the Hutaree "militia" group accused of plotting to kill police officers. The group members allegedly planned to kill Michigan law enforcement officers by, among other methods, making phony 911 [...]