[JURIST] The US government filed a motion Wednesday requesting that the trial for Zacarias Moussaoui begin on May 31, 2005. Moussaoui, a French citizen, is charged with conspiring with al-Qaida terrorists to carry out the 9/11 attacks. The motion filed Wednesday was in response to a ruling on October 13, 2004 by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that denied any further arguments on whether Moussaoui had access to high-ranking al-Qaida officials, and whether the government could seek the death penalty. The US government's motion is available online here [PDF]. JURIST's previous report on the Fourth Circuit ruling is here. AP has more.

[JURIST] A spokesman from the office of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said late Wednesday that a three person committee has been formed to manage Palestinian affairs while the Palestinian leader is being treated by doctors. Arafat, who has been suffering from a variety of afflictions, including heart trouble and gallstones, took ill early Wednesday and collapsed later in the day; his condition is said to be "very, very serious." According to the Jerusalum Post a Palestinian cabinet minister Wednesday night said “President Arafat is dying.” The committee to take up Arafat's duties consists of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, his predecessor Mahmoud Abbas and the head of the Palestinian National Council Salim Zaanoun. AP has more; the Jerusalem Post provides local coverage and the latest bulletins. The official website for the Palestinian president is here.

[JURIST] In Wednesday's environmental law news, James Hardie Industries, Australian manufacturer of fiber-cement building materials, has made an agreement with union and asbestos victim groups to handle individual claims from victims of the company's asbestos products, manufactured up until 1987, as the claims occur each year and into the future. The company had originally proposed to reach a one-time settlement through a government tribunal instead of dealing with individual claimants. The claims are currently estimated to cost the company $1.5 billion. The Australian has the story. In other news, twenty-five of the world's Least Developed Countries are currently meeting in Tanzania to discuss the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) conference in December. The countries hope to establish common positions on items like the Kyoto Protocol (established under the FCCC) and other climate related matters. AFP has more.... The EPA seeks objections and hearing requests on a final rule that will set tolerance limits for Deltamethrin, an insecticide, on a variety of food commodities. The regulation is made in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996[PDF](FQPA). Objections and hearing requests can be made until December 27 here.

[JURIST] Margaret Hassan, the British-born director of CARE's Iraq operations who was taken hostage last week, was shown on Al-Jazeera television Wednesday pleading for the release of all female prisoners in the country and the withdrawal of all British troops from Iraq. Hassan has been shown in a handful of videos since being seized by unknown captors. CARE has called for her release. In September, as reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the group Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to kill two kidnapped Americans and one Briton unless the US and UK released all Muslim women prisoners in their custody. No prisoners were released and all three hostages were later executed. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Amnesty International issued a report Wednesday strongly criticizing US treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib, and urging an independent investigation into reported abuses. The report asserts that while the US publicly condemns prisoner abuse, it does not practice what it preaches:

The struggle against torture and ill-treatment by agents of the state requires absolute commitment and constant vigilance. It requires stringent adherence to safeguards. It demands a policy of zero tolerance. The US government has manifestly failed in this regard.

[JURIST] Four British men held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for almost three years filed suit in Washington DC against the US government on Wednesday, alleging torture and various human rights violations and seeking $10 million each in compensation. The men, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal al-Harith (profiles here from the BBC), released from the camp in March, allege they were subject to beatings and abuse during their "arbitrary" detention. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers are also named as defendants in the action brought on behalf of the plaintiffs by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. BBC News has more. For more on the Guantanamo detentions from JURIST's Paper Chase, click here.

UPDATE: The complaint is now online from FindLaw here.

[JURIST] Agents of the US Postal Inspection Service in Florida are searching for thousands of lost absentee ballots which should have been delivered to Broward county residents. Deputy County Supervisor of Elections Gisela Salas said Wednesday that 60,000 ballots, accounting for five percent of the county electorate, were supposedly sent out two weeks ago. However, her office had been flooded with calls from concerned voters who claim that they never received their ballots. "It's really inexplicable at this point in time and the matter is under investigation by law enforcement," said Salas. US Postal Inspector Del Alvarez commented, "It's highly unlikely that 58,000 pieces of mail just disappeared. We're looking for it, we're trying to find it if in fact it was ever delivered to the postal service." The website for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections is here. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In response to the flu shot vaccine scarcity, NJ Governor James McGreevey signed into law Wednesday a new measure that calls for $500 fines against doctors who give flu shots to low-risk patients. The bill was given emergency priority, and passed through the legislature quickly earlier this week. NJ officials say that the measure is needed because most of the vaccines were held by private entities. 1010 WINS has more.

[JURIST] In Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, the troubled Marsh & McLennan insurance company is likely to escape criminal charges with the announcement of a reformation of its business practices. Marsh will still face civil charges [PDF] filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Read Marsh's plan here. BBC News has more.

In other news, the parent company of low-cost carrier ATA Airlines, ATA Holdings Corp., has announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Read the ATA press release here. CNN has more.... News Corp. shareholders approved a measure which will shift its main share listing to the New York Stock Exchange. The move is widely seen as an effort to strengthen the company's finances and to position itself as one of the world's most important media conglomerates. Read the News Corp. press release announcing the approval of the move here [PDF]. AP has more.... In the UK, the Civil Partnership bill [PDF] may be changed to give same-sex couples same legal rights as married couples to receive a survivor's pension benefits. Read the press release from the Department for Work and Pensions press release here. BBC News has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the judge presiding over the trial of four former Merrill Lynch bankers and two Enron executives Wednesday ruled that jurors could only hear the salaries of three of the Merrill Lynch defendants. The Houston Chronicle has more coverage of the Enron barge trial. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the Enron collapse. AP has more.

[JURIST] Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins, the two British lawyers who were appointed by the International Criminal Tribinal for the Former Yugoslavia to defend Slobodan Milosevic against war crimes charges after he was ruled no longer capable of representing himself, have formally asked to withdraw from the case, a spokesman for the ICTY announced Wednesday. Read the ICTY press statement here. The lawyers are still assigned, however, pending a formal court ruling on whether their withdrawal would be authorized. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Milosevic trial here.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court Wednesday allowed tobacco company Philip Morris USA to delay paying a $10.5 million judgment to a former smoker. In September, the California Supreme Court refused to reduce the award, despite Philip Morris' arguments that the amount was excessive. The company is now appealing to the US Supreme Court. The plaintiff, who now will not collect any money until after the appeal is decided, had smoked for 35 years, and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997. Wednesday's order indicated that all nine justices participated, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who was hospitalized last weekend with thyroid cancer. AP has more. The case is Philip Morris USA v. Henley.

[JURIST] The judge presiding over the trial of four former Merrill Lynch bankers and two Enron executives Wednesday ruled that jurors could only hear the salaries of three of the Merrill Lynch defendants. Prosecutors had argued that jurors should be allowed to see the salaries, including that of one former Merrill Lynch executive who earned $10 million in 1999, but District Judge Ewing Werlein ruled that the salaries were not relevant if they were not tied to the barge transaction at the center of the case. Ewing admitted the salaries of three of the Merrill Lynch bankers on trial, James A. Brown, Robert Furst and William Fuhs, all of which were under $1 million. Closing arguments in the case began today and will continue Thursday. The Houston Chronicle has background on the trial. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the Enron corporate scandal. AP has more.

[JURIST] UK Home Secretary David Blunkett has said that a review of the country's murder laws will begin next year, after a report by the Law Commission concluded that the laws were "a mess." Blunkett made the announcement Tuesday during debate in the House of Commons on the Domestic Crimes, Violence and Victims Bill. The Law Commission undertook a review of the provocation defense to murder, but it concluded that a far wider review of the laws was necessary. Under current law, murder convictions result in mandatory life sentences, but the commission recommended placing murder charges on a scale to allow more flexibility in sentencing. Read the commission report [PDF]. The Home Office has this press release. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that an Iranian official has said the government has refused to completely suspend its uranium enrichment, a condition sought by European nations.

UPDATE: An AP story is now available. The International Atomic Energy Agency has more on Iran.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Columbia has denied a petition for an emergency medical examination and release of records for a Canadian teenager held at Guantanamo Bay. The petition, filed by the Omar Khadr's grandmother, who has also filed on a petition for a write of habeas corpus on his behalf, argued that a medical examination was needed to ensure Khadr could participate in his defense. District Judge John D. Bates ruled that more evidence was needed of mistreatment before an examination would be ordered. Bates wrote:

To rebut this testimony, and obtain the extraordinary relief they seek through this motion, petitioners would need to submit a more concrete and competent form of evidence than that presently before the Court. As currently framed and supported, then, petitioners' emergency motion is simply not an appropriate vehicle to assess the important, and potentially difficult, issues posed by general allegations of torture of detainees or intentional withholding of necessary medical care.

[JURIST] Russian prosecutors have charged three deputy police chiefs with criminal negligence for their actions during the Beslan school hostage crisis. Russian deputy prosecutor general Nikolai Shepel announced the charges Wednesday, but would not detail what the specific charges were. Shepel also announced that the direct superiors of the three men, currently being treated in a hospital for health issues unrelated to the siege, will be arrested upon their release. MosNews.com has more.... The Federation Council, Russia's upper legislative body, voted Tuesday to approve ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. The body voted nearly unanimously with one opposed and one abstaining. The only step left in Russia's adoption of the treaty is President Vladimir Putin's signature and the submission of the ratified treaty to the UN. Both are considered a mere formality at this point. In related news, Putin announced during a Ukranian television interview late Tuesday night that he will not run for a third term as president. Putin said he believed the Russian Federation Constitution envisioned only two consecutive terms for the head of state and that the country needed the stability of following law and order more than it needed him for a third term. Read the transcript of Putin's interview here. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the Russian consideration of the Kyoto Protocol here and here. Itar-Tass has the Kyoto Protocol story here and Putin's announcement here.... The Sudanese National Assembly met Tuesday and approved the expansion of the African Union peacekeeping force into the troubled Darfur region. The proposal was offered by the AU as a method to monitor the cease-fire in the area and to protect the flood of refugees that has been generated by the ongoing violence from the conflict between the rebel militias and the Sudanese government. Nigerian Colonel Mohammed Yusuf announced Wednesday that almost 400 troops will be leaving for the Darfur region on Thursday, bolstering the current presence of mixed AU troops. Ultimately the AU plans to have over 4000 troops in place to monitor the cease-fire. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the situation in Sudan. The Sudan Tribune has more.... The Pakistani National Assembly passed a law Tuesday that tightened criminal sanctions on the practice of honor killings, raising the ultimate penalty available to capital punishment. The law also creates a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years for anyone convicted of an honor killing. Previously the law had allowed the judge to issue a 'soft' sentence. Honor killings occur when a family murders a female relative for dishonoring the family through adultery, premarital sex, marrying without the family's permission, or even being raped. Rural areas of Pakistan suffer large numbers of honor killings, with many cases turning out to be based on untrue rumors. Human rights groups are critical of the law since it still retains the option for offenders to pay a sum to the victim's family and thus be exempted from the law. Dawn has more.

[JURIST] As reported Tuesday on JURIST's Paper Chase, a district judge has dismissed a challenge by three Florida residents who were denied registration to vote due to incomplete applications. District Judge James Lawrence King of the US District Court for the South District of Florida ruled that county election supervisors had acted legally in denying the voters' applications that were incomplete at the Oct. 4 registration deadline. King said voters who failed to complete the form, usually by failing to check boxes pertaining to citizenship or mental capacity, had caused their own injury. The ruling is expected to affect more than 10,000 voters who had their applications denied for being incomplete. Read the court's ruling in Diaz v. Hood here [PDF]. The Miami Herald has more.... A district judge in Missouri has ruled that a mentally ill man cannot vote in the Nov. 2 election, although he will hear a challenge to a state law denying voting rights to some mentally ill people. District Judge Ortrie Smith of the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri ruled Tuesday that any potentially invalid ballot should be avoided to preserve the integrity of the election. Steven Prye, who recently moved to Missouri from Illinois, said he was not able to register because he had a court-appointed guardian in Illinois. The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and the ACLU are helping to represent Pyre, a former law professor. AP has more.... A New Hampshire judge has ruled that a voters' guide to a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot should be recalled. The challenge was brought by the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, which argued that the guide was slanted in favor of the amendment and had not been approved in the requisite public meetings. The proposed amendment would allow laws passed by the state legislature to trump court rules if the laws are constitutional. The NHCLU has a press release. The NH Secretary of State has issued this order [PDF]. AP has more.... The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Help America Vote Act, passed following the disputed 2000 election, has triggered a flood of litigation on the use of provision ballots in this election, which will likely carry over after the election.

[JURIST] BBC News is reporting that incoming EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has withdrawn his proposed slate of Commissioners from consideration by the European Parliament after a dispute over the inclusion of controversial Justice portfolio nominee Rocco Buttiglione. Observers expected Barroso to lose the Parliamentary vote, in which the full slate of 25 Commission candidates had to be elected or rejected. Buttiglione, who had expressed a variety of traditional religious beliefs, such as homosexuality being a sin and marriage being for the protection of women and the procreation of children, had previously been rejected by a Parliamentary committee reviewing his nomination.

UPDATE: The full text of Barroso's speech to Parliament withdrawing his slate of Commissioners is now online here [PDF] from the Barroso's official EU website.

UPDATE-2: Recorded video of Barroso's speech is now available from the EU here.

UPDATE-3: It has been announced that as President-designate Barroso's team will be unable to take office as scheduled November 1, current European Commission President Romano Prodi and his Commission will remain in office in a caretaker capacity. The EU Dutch Presidency has called EU leaders together for talks on the situation. Read the Dutch Presidency press release here. Meanwhile, the Italian government has publicly indicated its continuing support for Justice portfolio nominee Buttiglione. Deutsche Welle has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, October 27.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Chairman of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will hold an 11 AM ET news conference on intelligence reform legislation. Watch a live webcast (via C-SPAN).

The trial of Momcilo Krajisnik continues today at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague. Watch a webcast beginning at 9:30 AM local time (3:30 AM ET); the webcast is on a 30-minute tape delay. The ICTY has background on the case.

At the United Nations, the Presidents of the General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council will jointly chair a meeting marking the publication of the final report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission.... Louise Arbour, High Commissioner for Human Rights, will launch the Secretary-General's reform initiative on strengthening human rights promotion and protection systems in member states. Watch a live webcast beginning at 1:15 PM ET and read background on the initiative. Following the launch, Arbour and other UN officials will hold a 2:25 press conference. Watch a live webcast.... Theo van Boven, Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment will hold a 3:30 PM ET press conference. Watch a live webcast.