Free Republic

LOS ANGELES - An appellate court ruled a judge wrongly punished a defendant for his lawyer's outburst during a deposition. Jerome Renard and Mario Oliver were sued for fraud by investors who claimed they were paid only a quarter of the money loaned to open Linq Restaurant. Renard lawyer Anthony Rodriguez got into a heated debate with the plaintiff attorney over a conflict of interest issue and Rodriguez stood up, shouted and pointed his finger within three inches of the attorney's nose. The outburst was triggered when the plaintiffs' lawyer said he wanted to call Rodriguez as a witness, court...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's electoral commission ruled Monday that more than 99 percent of the ballots from the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections are valid, opening the way for a new government to start coming together. Final election results have been delayed by fraud complaints mainly lodged by the Sunni Arab minority, and groups looking for a political edge in dealing with the Shiite Muslim majority could still make further protests and hold up the naming of new leaders for two or three months. A U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing its two pilots. A...