WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Monday said he planned to rule quickly on whether to temporarily block controversial new regulations that were adopted by the Obama administration as part of an effort to tamp down speculation in the commodities markets.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and groups representing the financial industry clashed in federal court over whether the agency overstepped its bounds by imposing restrictions last year to limit the number of contracts traders can hold in 28-commodities, including oil, coffee and gold.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Seven states, Catholic groups and individuals on Thursday filed the first major lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s new contraceptive regulations, arguing that the policy violated the constitutional rights to religious freedom.

Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas joined with Catholic organizations and two Catholics to fight the new rules issued earlier this month requiring healthcare coverage for free birth control.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Tuesday threw in the towel on one of its biggest bribery cases in the military equipment business, which it had touted as part of its campaign to crack down on corruption.

Federal prosecutors moved to dismiss charges against the remaining 16 defendants rounded up in a “sting” operation aimed at rooting out corruption under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal to try to bribe officials of foreign governments.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mitsui & Co Ltd’s MOEX Offshore agreed with the U.S. Justice Department to pay at least $90 million to settle some of its liability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the first government settlement involving the BP Plc Macondo well.

Mitsui’s MOEX will pay $70 million in civil penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act and spend at least $20 million on conservation projects in the Gulf states, the Justice Department said on Friday.

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and its Gulf of Mexico Macondo well partners and contractors face tens of billions of dollars of possible damages and liabilities from the historic oil spill, in a major legal battle due to kick off in New Orleans on February 27.

The following are possible outcomes from the litigation.

BP SETTLES ALL CASES AGAINST IT

BP has said it is keen to settle the claims ahead of the start of hearings. This could prevent some of the dirty laundry associated with the spill from being aired in a courtroom as well as spare BP and its partners lengthy and costly litigation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki personally directed and approved the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner which a Nigerian man tried to carry out on Christmas Day in 2009, according to new details released by federal prosecutors on Friday.

Awlaki, who was a leader of the militant group’s affiliate in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), before he was killed in a drone strike last year, directed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to conduct a strike aboard an American airliner over U.S. soil.

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Anwar
al-Awlaki personally directed and approved the attempted bombing
of a U.S. airliner which a Nigerian man tried to carry out on
Christmas Day in 2009, according to new details released by
federal prosecutors on Friday.

Awlaki, who was a leader of the militant group’s affiliate
in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), before he
was killed in a drone strike last year, directed Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab to conduct a strike aboard an American airliner
over U.S. soil.

By Ernest Scheyder and Jeremy Pelofsky

(Reuters) – International Paper Co (IP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy rival Temple-Inland Inc (TIN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for $3.7 billion on the condition it divests three corrugated packaging mills, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

The deal makes IP the largest North American producer of corrugated packaging, which is commonly used to make shipping boxes, ahead of rivals Packaging Corp of America (PKG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and MeadWestvaco Corp (MWV.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Feb 10 (Reuters) – International Paper Co has
won U.S. antitrust approval to buy rival Temple-Inland Inc
for $3.7 billion on the condition it divests three
corrugated packaging mills, the U.S. Justice Department said on
Friday.

The deal makes IP the largest North American producer of
corrugated packaging, which is commonly used to make shipping
boxes, ahead of rivals Packaging Corp of America and
MeadWestvaco Corp.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senior U.S. Justice Department officials are weighing whether to drop a major case that involved a sting operation to try to catch executives paying bribes to win lucrative contracts for military equipment, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The case encountered several setbacks along the way. U.S. authorities arrested 22 people two years ago and accused them collectively of trying to bribe two men who posed as representatives of Gabon’s defense ministry to win $15 million in deals to provide guns, body armor and other equipment. The representatives were actually FBI agents.