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A federal judge must decide whether the United States has jurisdiction over the spending of seized Iraqi assets by the Coalition Provisional Authority. His decision weighs in the balance over a court battle accusing the private security firm, Custer Battles, of defrauding about $50 million while working in postwar Iraq.

Top military contractors have about $25 billion to $30 billion in cash sitting in their coffers. Fully, indebted to the government for their revenues resulting form record Pentagon budgets and spending on homeland security, shareholders are happy and stocks are reaching new highs.

Day rates peaking at $1,000 turned post-Saddam Hussein Iraq into a modern day Klondike for private security firms, but a growing number of hired guns are paying the price in blood.

Hundreds of pages of documents provide a fuller picture of the allegations at the heart of a lawsuit against private security firm, Custer Battles, which accusers claim operated shell companies that were used to bilk millions of dollars from the Coalition Provisional Authority.

After more than a year in a Zimbabwean jail 62 black South African mercenaries are due to be released, but freedom will be a bittersweet experience. Embarrassed by the "cesspool of mercenaries" within its midst, the South African authorities have decreed that the dust-blown town of Pomfret must be razed and the inhabitants scattered across the country.

Undeterred by the risks, up to 1,000 mostly young men marched, jogged and goose-stepped around a suburban park after a local company, Askar Security Services, said it had been hired by "international partners" to recruit Ugandans for work in Iraq and other countries.

The U.S. Army awarded $72 million in bonuses to Halliburton Co. for logistics work in Iraq, but had not decided whether to give the Texas company bonuses for disputed dining services to troops.

What private security firms in Iraq actually do has been shrouded in mystery. Some provide more than just security. Many are involved in military activities.

Japanese officials scrambled to find information on the kidnapping of a 44-year-old Japanese security specialist working as a consultant for Hart Security Ltd., a Cyprus-based security contractor.

Asked if rebuilding funds were being spent as Congress intended, the special inspector general said "No," Money had been diverted to security, forcing projects to be scaled back. There has also been evidence of corruption in some U.S.-funded deals.