LAW

Talibanism is on the rise in Pakistan and the government is helpless about it, Wednesday's ruthless assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the nation's only Christian lawmaker to hold a cabinet rank, has confirmed.

The trustee seeking money for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme has sued Tremont Group Holdings for $2.1 billion, saying it missed warning signs the business could be a fraud.

A Bay Area hedge fund manager settled civil charges that he secretly diverted more than $12 million in proceeds to other entities he controlled, securities regulators announced.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc could lose up to $3.4 billion from lawsuits and other disputes over the securities it sold and underwrote, the investment bank said in its annual filing with regulators on Tuesday.

Insurers must stop setting prices based on gender, an EU court ruled, in a move that could raise costs for women drivers, cut male pensions and invite more legal challenges to pricing practices.

A jailed former Societe Generale trader convicted of theft of speed-trading computer code secrets was sentenced to 36 months in prison on Monday.

The top attorney for the U.S. securities regulator was advised not to recuse himself from handling Bernard Madoff matters for the agency, even though his family's estate had invested with the swindler.

Citigroup Inc could write down some $5 billion to $10 billion in expected future tax benefits if the United States decreases corporate tax rates, veteran banking analyst Mike Mayo estimated on Monday.

A former executive at Colonial Bank, which collapsed in part because of its close ties to the now-bankrupt Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp, is expected to plead to criminal charges on Wednesday.

A U.S. regulator charged three former directors of a military contractor with involvement in a massive accounting fraud, after a jury had convicted the company's founder of orchestrating the $190 million scheme.

American Express Co said it could face up to an additional $500 million in losses from lawsuits and governmental examinations, on top of what it has already reserved for them.

Citigroup Inc could face up to $3 billion in claims from the bankruptcy proceedings of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , the third largest U.S. bank by assets said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Toys R Us Inc is looking to raise around $800 million in an initial public offering in April, though a final decision has not been reached, the New York Post said on Saturday.

A top Freddie Mac executive received notice the government may file charges against him for allegedly violating securities laws in the years leading up to the housing bust, according to a regulatory filing released on Thursday.

U.S. regulators' efforts to settle with banks over improper mortgage foreclosures are being hampered by infighting among the groups involved in the talks, and a settlement may take a while, according to sources familiar with the matter.

An Iraqi immigrant, who ran over his daughter in his car and assaulted her boyfriend's mother in a case billed as honor killing, has been convicted of second-degree murder by a Phoenix jury.

Top lawyers are deserting Howrey en masse and are joining rival law firms in search of greener pastures.

An appellate court in Texas has affirmed the dismissal of a defamation suit filed by an Austin-based neurosurgeon against a local television station, ruling that accurate and fair reports on third-party allegations do not amount to defamation.

A New York Supreme Court judge has ruled that a person's constitutional right to a fair trial outweighs the press privilege, even if the information obtained by the latter is confidential in nature.

Malikah Shabazz, one of the children of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, has been denied bail by a North Carolina court in connection with grand larceny, forgery and identity theft and could face trial in New York City where warrants have been issued against her.

Utah's attorney general's office said ReconTrust Co., a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp. (BofA), has violated the state's law on foreclosures.

Mark Ciavarella, the former Pennsylvania judge who was convicted of racketeering and tax fraud last Friday, has been called a 'scumbag' by a grieving mother whose son committed suicide last year.

Two of the world's biggest cola drinks makers - Coca-Cola and PepsiCo - have come under fire for using cancerous caramel coloring agents in their drinks.

New York's elected judges will be barred from presiding over a case if the lawyer, plaintiff or defendant in that case has made any contribution of $2,500 or more in the judge's judicial election campaign during the two years prior to the trial, the state's top judge said.

New York's chief judge has taken steps to provide homeowners facing foreclosure legal representation free of charge.

The trial of Mark Ciavarella, a former Pennsylvania judge who has been charged with racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery and federal tax violations, drew to a close on Friday with the jury returning a guilty verdict.

The jury deliberations in the trial of Mark Ciavarella, a former Pennsylvania judge who has been charged with racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery and federal tax violations, will resume on Friday.

A former U.S. Customs inspector was arrested on Tuesday after he disguised himself as a postman and attempted to smuggle a Mexican woman into Texas on false documents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities said.

A Beverly Hills attorney has been sentenced to four months in county jail after he pleaded no contest to a single charge of attempting to smuggle black tar heroin into the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.