Regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) have announced a $400 million settlement with the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae . A 348 page report issued by the OFHEO on Tuesday found the federally-backed, shareholder-controlled lender guilty of violating reporting and accounting [...]
A lawyer for the government of Sudan urged the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by families of the 17 sailors killed in the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole alleging that Sudan helped finance the attack and allowed an al-Qaeda operative to ship explosives to [...]
A federal judge on Wednesday gave final approval to a $6.6 billion settlement between former Enron shareholders and the three banks accused of helping Enron hide financial shortcomings to deceive investors. Lead plaintiff's attorney William Lerach said the money will be paid as soon as possible to shareholders, with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday remanded a case involving a permanent government ban on speech when an individual receives a National Security Letter (NSL) , stating that the ban pursuant to the Patriot Act as now amended by the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 may be [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed nationally-coordinated complaints on Wednesday against telecommunications companies and the attorneys general of twenty states requesting investigations into the legality of information sharing between phone companies and the National Security Agency (NSA) . Unlike the complaint filed by Illinois residents Monday asking AT&T to stop handing over information to [...]
US Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) on Wednesday demanded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation return all evidence seized in its search of the congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) last weekend in connection to Jefferson's alleged involvement in a $3 billion fraud scam. Hastert [...]
Pro-unification advocates favoring the continuation of Montenegro's association with Serbia announced Wednesday that they will challenge results of Sunday's referendum vote that resulted in 55.5% of the Montenegrin population voting for independence. Bloc for Joint State leader Predrag Bulatovic said he plans to file an appeal with the referendum commission before the Wednesday appeal deadline [...]
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) warned that ongoing sectarian violence is significantly hindering human rights progress in the country in a bi-monthly report released Tuesday. Execution style killings reached 70 a day in Baghdad in the wake of the February Shiite shrine bombing in Samarra . Iraqi officials and international rights workers [...]
The Iraqi government announced Wednesday that it had apprehended Saddam Hussein nephew Bashar Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti with the assistance of Lebanese police. The statement was ambiguous as to whether al-Tikriti was extradited from Lebanon, and did not specify what Hussein's nephew will be charged with, though it generally referred to crimes against the people [...]
The US Senate on Wednesday voted 73-25 in favor of invoking cloture on the Immigration Reform Bill and limiting debate on the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has indicated that he would like to hold final vote on the immigration bill by the end of the week. The vote to limit debate on [...]
