[JURIST] AP is reporting that the Senate has passed the revised conference version of the intelligence reform bill [PDF] adopted yesterday by the House.

5:20 PM ET - The vote was 89-2. Reuters now has a story here.

[JURIST] US District Judge Charles Kocoras of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled Wednesday that the Chicago Board of Education must make room for black and Latino students in its predominately white schools. Additionally, the school district must reallocate funds to students in racially isolated schools. The US Department of Justice had originally brought suit against the Chicago Board of Education, claiming that the Board of Education had violated the voluntary desegregation agreement that it had with the federal government. School officials argued that they were promoting integration to the best of their ability. AP has more.

[JURIST] Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed on logistical terms governing the upcoming vote for President of the Palestinian Authority, according to a senior Palestinian negotiator speaking Wednesday. The terms for the poll will be the same as they were for a similar vote in 1996. At that time residents of east Jerusalem were allowed to vote at five polling stations in the region, but had their ballots officially classified as absentee ballots, given that Israel does not recognize Palestinian sovereignty over that area. From Israel, Haaretz has more.

[JURIST] A new federal regulation issued Wednesday requires all passenger vehicles sold in the United States to have both shoulder and lap belts in the rear center seat by the 2008 model year. Most passenger vehicles already have the belt combination, but they exist in only about half of current pickup and sport utilities, many of which have only lap belts in the center rear. Statistics suggest that the new rule, promulgated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with the support of auto maunufacturers, will save about 23 lives and 495 injuries per year. Shoulder belts in rear window seats have been mandated since 1969. The NHTSA press release on the new regulation is here. Read the full text of the reg here. AP has more.

[JURIST] The chief of Saddam Hussein's defense team claimed Wednesday that the former Iraqi dictator's first meeting with a defense lawyer had been canceled after American authorities exerted pressure on the Iraqi Special Tribunal set up to try him and other members of his regime. Ziad al-Khasawneh said in an interview that the Iraqi Bar Association had obtained the court's permission for Khalil al-Duleimi, an Iraqi attorney, to meet with Saddam today, but that the Association abruptly told him that the meeting had been "indefinitely postponed." Al-Khasawneh claimed that the decision "appears to have come from the top, neither from the court nor from the Iraqi government because both have no say in front of Iraq's real ruler, the United States of America." Hussein is still being held in a US-operated facilty; American officials have to this point refused to let any member of his large and multinational defense team - some 20 lead lawyers from the US, Britain, France, Jordan, Lebanon and Libya, supported by 1500 volunteers, mostly from Arab countries - meet with him; he had no counsel present when he was arraigned before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on July 1. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a company that had used the term "micro color" to describe its cosmetic product did not have the burden of showing that there was no likelihood of consumers confusing that product with a similarly-named product by another manufacturer alleging trademark infringement, but rather than the plaintiff manufacturer had the positive burden of showing that there was likely consumer confusion as a result of the practice. The full text of the court's opinion in KP Permanent Make-up Inc. v. Lasting Impression (case backgrounder from Duke Law School's Program in Public Law) is here [PDF; per Justice Souter]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US has rejected renewed calls to join the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, insisting that the pact, about to take effect in February 2005 in the wake of its recent ratification by Russia, is a "political agreements...not based on science." US climate change negotiator Harlan Watson told colleagues and media at the latest UN conference on climate change now underway in Buenos Aires that the United States did not intend to change its approach, but he did emphasize that the US was spending billions on new technology to cut the emissions that create so-called "greenhouse gases": "We match or exceed what any other country is doing to address the issue,” said Watson Tuesday. "I would challenge any of the Kyoto parties to match us both internationally and domestically." The Kyoto Protocol joins 39 industrial nations and territories - the US and Australia are the only major industrial countries not committed to the accord. MSNBC has more.

[JURIST] The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, Wednesday approved legislation initiated by President Vladimir Putin that would remove regional governors from direct election by the people and instead make their offices appointed, subject to ratification by regional assemblies. The Council vote is the penultimate step in the adoption of the countroversial law, already passed by the Duma, which now goes to Putin himself for signature. Putin had pressed for the new power as part of a broad initiative to consolidate more power in the hands of the federal authority in the wake of the Beslan terrorist massacre earlier this year; opponents of the plan have highlighted its corrosive impact on incipinient Russian democracy. From Moscow, MosNews has more in English.

[JURIST] A former US Marine staff sergeant testifying in support of a fellow American who fled to Canada in protest against being deployed to Iraq told the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board Tuesday that his unit in Iraq (3rd battalion, 7th Marines) had repeatedly and indiscriminately killed many women, children and other unarmed civilians in violation of international law - over 30 in 48 hours during one session of checkpoint duty in Baghdad. Jimmy Massey testified to support Jeremy Hinzman, a South Dakota native who deserted the 82nd Airborne in January, claiming the war was illegal and criminal that any acts of violence committed in support of that would be an unconscionable atrocity. Massey said that US troops were trained to regard all Iraqis as potential terrorists: "I was deeply concerned about the civilian casualties," he said. "What they were doing was committing murder." Massey also told the tribunal that he now suffers from nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder because of his experiences. Canadian Press has more; AFP also covers the story.

[JURIST] Automakers have launched a lawsuit against the nation's strictest set of vehicle emissions standards, approved earlier this year by the California Air Resources Board. The action, filed Tuesday, alleges that vehicle emissions standards are properly within the jurisdiction of the federal government. Defenders of the California standards and other state-made rules counter that while federal regulators can set emissions standards for automotive fuel economy, states can regulate carbon dioxide emissions in general. Seven states representing one-quarter of the US car market - New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island - have so far moved to emulate the California standards. Read the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers press release on the lawsuit here. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK House of Lords Tuesday defeated a government measure that would have redefined the centuries-old office of Lord Chancellor by no longer requiring the position to be held by someone who was both a lawyer and member of the British parliament's upper chamber. The government measure was presented as one to better ensure the independence of the judiciary, but peers argued that the principle of independence was so recognized in convention that explicitly reflecting it in written law was unnecessary. This is the second setback for the government in its ongoing constitutional reform initiative; in July, the Lords blocked a proposal to completely abolish the Lord Chancellor's office. From London, the English legal newspaper The Lawyer has more.

[JURIST] A Florida judge Tuesday refused to stay a constitutional amendment approved by state voters last month that would require hospitals to release records relating to adverse medical incidents. Florida hospitals had asked for the amendment to be put on hold pending legislative clarification of precisely what records the amendment applied to and how those records were to be released. Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom said that such questions could be resolved in local courts on a case-by-case basis, and there was no need to stall the amendment as passed. Review the text of Amendment 7 and visit the pro-Amendment 7 website of Floridians for Patient Protextion. AP has more.

[JURIST] Spanish authorities say they have arrested the "mastermind" of the Madrid train bombings of March 11 this year that killed almost 200 people. Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, an Egyptian national, was arrested by Italian police in Milan in June, but was formally extradited to Spain on Tuesday. Appearing briefly in Madrid's High Court before being transported to prison, he will face questioning next week by Judge Juan del Olmo, who is leading the judicial probe into the bombing. Ahmed's role in the plot is said to have been as prominent as two other suspects, a Tunisian and a Syrian, who blew themselves up when surrounded by police in a standoff in April. The Spanish authorities now have some 30 bombing suspects detained or under investigation. ITV has more. From Madrid, El Mundo provides local coverage in Spanish.

[JURIST] The UN Security Council declared Tuesday that the recent incursion of Rwandan troops into territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo was a violation of international law, according to a statement read by Council President Abdallah Baali of Algeria. The statement went on to condemn any military action that might occur within the borders of the DRC and called upon Rwanda to withdraw its troops. Rwandan troops have been searching the DRC region near the Rwandan border in an effort to hunt down and capture or kill Hutu rebels that Rwanda claims are escaping to the DRC to avoid authorities in Rwanda. JURIST's Paper Chase has the initial report of troops entering the DRC. Read the official UN press release here. The UN News Centre has more.... United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland called on Sudan Wednesday to reverse its order of expulsion for Oxfam chief Shaun Skelton, issued Tuesday. This is the second time in little over a week that Sudan has issued an order for the expulsion of Skelton. The first time was in reference to materials published concerning a bombing attack that occurred near Oxfam and Save the Children camps. The expuslion order claims that Skelton violated his passport by working in Khartoum instead of Darfur, the region he is officially cleared for. Egeland called on Sudan to reverse its decision, stating that the expulsion of aid agency officials is not the way to encourage international support for the people of Sudan. The Sudan Tribune has more.

[JURIST] BBC News is reporting that the Ukrainian parliament has passed reform measures to eliminate fraud from the re-run of the presidential vote later this month, and to weaken the president's powers.

9:15 AM ET - More details are now available here. According to the BBC, the reforms include:

• Reforming the Central Election Commission, dismissing the chairman and some other members
• Changes designed to reduce possibility of ballot fraud, such as limiting the use of absentee ballots and home voting
• Reduced powers for the president who may now only appoint the prime minister, defence and foreign minister, subject to legislators' approval
• New functions for the regions, designed to ease tensions between the pro-Yushchenko west and pro-Yanukovych east