In a historic step for ex-communist Romania and Bulgaria, the two countries Monday signed an accession treaty with the European Union (EU) which should lead to them joining the bloc in 2007. They were left out of last year's EU enlargement from 15 to 25, including the incorporation of eight ex-communist countries, because they were [...]
Iraqi politicians again delayed naming a government on Monday, prolonging a three-month political vacuum in the country. Jawad al-Maliki, a top member of the main Shiite alliance that won January's elections, said wrangling over appointments to key ministries had put off Monday's expected announcement of a proposed cabinet. Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis are all especially [...]
Industry leaders including Microsoft and Oracle spoke out on Monday about the need to reform US patent law to curb abusive litigation and protect technological development. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to meet later today to discuss patent reform, with Segway inventor Dean Kamen, and lawyers for Intel and Micron Technologies to give testimony . [...]
Russian president Vladimir Putin stressed the need for a law-based society in his annual State of the Nation address on Monday, and encouraging investors to keep their money in Russia. "Tax authorities have no rights to terrorize business," Putin said in a 47-minute speech in the Kremlin. Putin's emphasis on boosting investor confidence comes two [...]
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 [...]
