SPB News for Friday.

Lawyers for Jamie Leigh Jones argued in federal court that her case should be "tried in court, not settled in private arbitration." Jones is suing defense contractor KBR over an alleged gang rape she suffered in 2005, but the company insists her contract binds her to settle all claims through arbitration.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is not known to be fashionable. Last Friday, however, when on a train to Philadelphia with one of his aides, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Schumer joked that he has a French tailor. "His name is Jay-Cay Pennay!" shouted Schumer, giving a faux francophilic pronunciation of JC Penney. Schumer also confirmed that he does all his shopping at "Tarjay," also known as Target.

U.S. gives $100 million in military aid to Egypt The Bush regime has released $100 million in military aid to Egypt after telling the U.S. Congress the money was necessary for 'national security' reasons.

Official: Iraq, China nearing oil deal Iraq and China are close to re-signing a $1.2 billion oil deal that was called off after the 2003 U.S. invasion, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said Thursday.

Bush told to end threats to Iran over weapons A Nobel laureate with expertise on diplomatic negotiations and nuclear strategy urged the Bush administration Tuesday to stop issuing public statements that imply the United States will use overwhelming force to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Tainted Evidence --Canada tosses CIA terror testimony obtained through waterboarding The Canadian government is no longer using evidence gained from CIA interrogations of a top 'Al Qaeda' prisoner who was waterboarded. According to documents obtained by NEWSWEEK, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the country's national-security agency, last month quietly withdrew statements by alleged Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah from public papers outlining the case against two alleged terror "sleeper" operatives in Ottawa and Montreal.

Pentagon OKs charges against bin Laden aide The Pentagon on Wednesday approved war crimes charges against a Guantanamo prisoner from Sudan who is accused of acting as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden.

Judge drops terror charges against former Guantanamo inmates A Spanish judge dropped terror charges against two former Guantanamo Bay inmates who recently returned home to Britain, saying their mental health had deteriorated so badly they were suicidal and it would be cruel to prosecute them. In a 10-page order, Judge Baltasar Garzon said he was abandoning an extradition request and the original indictment he issued in 2003 against Palestinian-Jordanian Jamil el-Banna and Libyan-born Omar Deghayes. The men spent more than four years at the US camp for terror suspects in Cuba without being charged or tried.

Crimes by Homeland Security agents stir alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to stop these types of crimes. Instead, so many of its officers have been charged with committing those crimes themselves that their boss in Washington recently issued an alert about the ''disturbing events'' and the "increase in the number of employee arrests..." Other recent South Florida cases... have involved officers and agents accepting payoffs for migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, witness tampering, embezzlement and rape.