[JURIST] At a court martial that resumed Friday at a British military base in Osnabrueck Germany after the defense requested a temporary halt [JURIST report], a lawyer for one of three British soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi detainees accused their commanding officer, Major Dan Taylor, of issuing the orders that led to the abuse. Corporal Daniel Kenyon and lance corporals Mark Cooley and Darren Larkin are accused of mistreating Iraqi civilians during an operation near Basra in May 2003. Major Taylor had directed his troopers to take looters caught stealing humanitarian aid and work them "hard"; the British Army has acknowledged that his directive was contrary to terms of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit forcing civilians to work (see Article 40 of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, specifying that "Protected persons may be compelled to work only to the same extent as nationals of the Party to the conflict in whose territory they are."). Taylor himself has not been charged, however, as his order has been characterized as being merely overzealous. The incident led to photos [JURIST report] reminiscent of Abu Ghraib. Reuters has more. Saturday's Guardian has local coverage.

[JURIST] The second largest bank in the nation, JP Morgan Chase & Co. [corporate website], has publicly disclosed that two of its predecessor banks had received thousands of slaves as collateral prior to the Civil War. JP Morgan offered a formal apology letter Thursday and said it was creating a $5 million dollar scholarship fund for African-American students from Louisiana. The discovery was made after a 2003 Chicago ordinance required any company that does business with the city to research their history and determine if the company had any links to slavery; similar ordinances have since been adopted by Los Angeles and Chicago [Washington Times report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraq's interim defense minister said Friday that the government would arrest prominent Iraqi National Congress party leader Ahmad Chalabi [BBC profile; JURIST Newsmaker] after the end of the Muslim festival of Eid on Sunday for maligning him and the country's defense ministy. Hazim al-Shaalan told Aljazeera TV that "We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol." Chalabi is said to have accused Shaalan of stealing $500 million from ministry coffers and have been responsible for posting and documents online accusing him of links to the former Saddam Hussein regime. In 1992, a Jordanian court convicted Chalabi in absentia of embezzling millions a major Jordanian bank, preciptating its collapse. Chalabi, once a strong ally of the US but now estranged [JURIST report], is a leading contender for the post of Iraqi Prime Minister after the January 30 elections. Reuters has more.

In other news Friday related to the upcoming Iraqi election, the chairman of Iraq's Assembly of Independents said that 41 party candidates in Salahaddin [Wikipedia article] province in north central Iraq has withdrawn their names en masse after receiving specific threats. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (today sporting a brand new website developed in anticipation of the upcoming vote) also criticized the use of religious symbols in campaign posters, saying it had received complaints from Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord and the pro-monarchist party of Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussain against photos and sayings of top Shia clerics appearing on candidate materials. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] The Environmental Protection Agency [official website] announced Friday that it will offer large "factory-style" farms an exemption from Clean Air Act [EPA text] fines if, in return, the farms monitor air quality and submit those figures to the government. The plan is designed to greatly speed up the development of new animal-processing emissions standards that, with the help of the recieved data, would take effect in about four years rather than an estimated ten. In exchange for their air quality data, the farms would gain immunity from future Clean Air Act fines over $100,000. To accept the EPA offer [PDF], a farm must contribute $2,500 to an air monitoring fund and pay a one-time penalty of up to $100,000 as a means of payment for past violations. EPA officer Thomas Skinner stated that such a program is not a "pay up and get out of jail free pass," but rather serves to expedite clean air compliance. Read the EPA press release. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff [court profile] Friday approved a 90-day extension of the exclusivity period covering the bankruptcy reorganization plan of UAL Corporation, parent of United Airlines [corporate website]. During the exclusivity period, no other parties may submit rival reorganization plans. Also Friday, Judge Wedoff refused to approve changes to United's union contracts until each union's membership can finish voting on their respective agreements. UAL maintains a corporate reorganization website. AP has more. Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• BREAKING NEWS ~ US bankruptcy judge nixes United deal with pilots
• Bankruptcy judge blocks repossession of 14 United Airlines jets
• Bankruptcy judge rules against United Airlines in pension dispute
• United Airlines financing plan OKed

[JURIST] Denmark's High Court ruled Friday that Danish supermarket chain Dansk Supermarked Group [corporate website] has the right to ban employees from wearing religious headscarves, saying that the legislature "has weighed the right of an employer to demand a uniform or a certain dress code over consideration for an employee who for religious reasons is unable to adhere to dress rules." Denmark does not have an official restriction on wearing headscarves in public places. France began enforcing a controversial ban on the wearing of religious symbols [JURIST report], including headscarves, last year. Despite initial protests, the French ban has mostly been followed. Al Jazeera has more on the Danish court ruling. The Copenhagen Post has local coverage in English.

[JURIST] The US Commission on Civil Rights [official website], newly reconstituted with the addition of a new Republican chairman and another Republican appointee [JURIST report], has removed from its website a controversial staff report highly critical of the civil rights policies of the Bush administration. Redefining Rights in America: The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration, 2001-2004 was posted online in October [JURIST report] before the November Presidential vote, although full Commission consideration of the document was put off until afterwards. At a November 12 meeting following the President's re-election the Commission split 4-4 [JURIST report; Commission vote tally] on adoption. Outgoing Commission chair Mary Frances Berry and vice-chair Cruz Reynoso nonetheless forwarded the unendorsed report to President Bush in a November 30 letter [PDF] as a final act before their end-of-term resignations. At its January 7, 2005 policy meeting the Commission, with new Republican appointees Gerald Reynolds (chair) and Ashley Taylor, adopted what the Commission website Friday called "a new policy on the public release and posting of reports and Commission documents." The website notice goes on to explain that "To comply with that new policy, the website has been updated and several draft reports that failed to receive a majority of Commissioners' votes have been removed." Although an obvious link to the report on the Commission's home page is now gone, the text of the report is still accessible on other parts of the site. The report was cited in JURIST's Gazette in October 2004 when it first came out and JURIST maintains an archive copy [PDF]. The Commission indicates that copies of the removed draft report and others like it are available from the Commission upon request.

[JURIST] Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website] said Friday that he would be willing to call a national election over the issue of same-sex marriage, the subject of pending legislation in the Canadian House of Commons where Martin presides over a tenuous minority government. Martin said he would be willing to call the vote to "uphold the Charter of Rights [text]", Canada's bill of rights, interpreted by the Canadian Supreme Court as allowing same-sex marriage [JURIST report], against critics who seek to maintain the traditional definition of marriage as between a man a woman. Canadian opposition leader Stephen Harper [Conservative Party of Canada website] has gone on record against federal legalization of same-sex marriage, saying most recently that it might put the country on a "slippery slop" that could eventually led to the recognition of polygamy. Harper says, however, that he would support civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Canada's CTV News has more.

[JURIST] Updating a report from earlier today in JURIST's Paper Chase, Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell has now announced his resignation from the Commission. In a statement released in Washington, he said:

Having completed a bold and aggressive agenda, it is time for me to pursue other opportunities and let someone else take the reins of the agency. During my tenure, we worked to get the law right in order to stimulate innovative technology that puts more power in the hands of the American people, giving them greater choices that enrich their lives. Evidence of our success can be seen increasingly in the offices, the automobiles and the living rooms of the American consumer.

[JURIST] The European Union [official website] announced Friday its unanimous approval of a measure to end penalty sanctions imposed on $4 billion worth of US exports. The European Council recommended the sanctions end on February 1 and approved a program to reimburse all penalty fees collected in January. The penalty sanctions were put in place after the Senate approved a $5 million annual tax break for US exporters that was later ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization [official website]. Approval of the measure is in response to passage of a corporate tax reform bill [Washington Post report] by the Senate in October that repealed the tax break. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, a key member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement [official website], now the ruling party in Southern Sudan, has expressed concern about the makeup of the proposed UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in March. Deng Alour Deng, a senior official in the SPLA, said that Southern Sudanese officials were unhappy with the number of Muslim countries that have been asked to contribute troops to the proposed 10,000 member peacekeeping force. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia have reportedly been asked to contribute troops, and officials in Rumbek worry that the predominantly Muslim nature of these countries will cause tension between the civilian population composed mainly of Christians and Animists and the peacekeepers deployed to the area. The UN Security Council [official website] isn't scheduled to vote on the deployment force until early February, but in order to ensure a March arrival, countries must begin preparing now. UN envoy Jan Pronk is likely to return to Rumbek, where the first diplomatic mission for Southern Sudan was opened Thursday, to continue working on the arrangements with Southern Sudan officials. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST country archive]. BBC News has more.

In other international legal news ...

• The Russian State Duma [official website in Russian] passed a resolution Friday to enforce the switch from social benefits to cash compensation under the new benefits package implemented at the beginning of the year. The Duma acknowledged that several regions of Russia have not been distributing the monetary compensation called for following the cancellation of benefits. Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] has been working to pull the parties of the State Duma together to ensure the smooth and prompt implementation of the compensation legislation. The Russian political party Rodina has implemented a hunger strike [Interfax report] in response to the enforcement, pledging not to end the strike until their demands for restructuring of the law are met. Interfax has more local coverage.
  
  
• The Kenyan government [official website] has dropped criminal libel proceedings against a reporter writing about government corruption on Wednesday. Kamau Ngotho, an investigative writer with The Standard [official website], was charged under a libel law that Attorney-General Amos Wako [official profile] described as archaic and ineffective. Wako's announcement is seen as an end to the practice of criminal libel proceedings, which carried a maximum penalty of 10 years, as he encouraged aggrieved parties to "pursue civil remedies in court", and that the Kenyan government's policy was to not investigate or pursue criminal libel charges. The charges had allegedly been filed under the prompting of Cabinet Minister Chris Murungaru in response to his inclusion in a story about corruption in the Kenyan government. The Kenyan Daily Nation has local coverage.
  
  
• The tiny archipelago nation of Maldives [official government website] will hold its first democratic elections since 1978 on Saturday. The parliamentary elections for the 42-seat body are part of democratic reforms promised by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom [official profile] last June, when he also allowed the official recognition of opposition political parties. The elections were scheduled for three weeks ago, but the devastation from the Indian Ocean tsunami forced their postponement. Voting centers are being set up in relief areas to ensure that those displaced by the flooding still have the opportunity to vote. The first order of business for the newly elected parliament will be to review and begin implementation of the proposed democratic reforms. AP has more.

[JURIST] Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has warned that should China's National People's Congress enact an "anti-secession" law [JURIST report] aimed at keeping Taiwan from becoming independent, Taiwan will enact its own "anti-annexation" law and might hold a referendum. Chen urged the Beijing to "think hard" about an anti-secession bill that will not benefit either side and will likely anger Taiwanese citizens. Analysts have speculated that the Chinese law would give China a legal basis for taking Taiwan by force or pressuring the island into annexation. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Chinese Ministry of Education [official website] announced Friday that China's current restriction on marriage and childbearing for university students will be lifted. An official with the MOE student affairs department acknowledged that a new draft regulation on college student management will no longer have articles prohibiting university students getting married and having children while in school. Critics of the fifty-year-old ban say it has forced pregnant students or those contemplating marriage to choose having an abortion or delaying marriage, or to give up their studies. Xinhuanet has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, Fidelity Investments [financial website] announced two more traders have left the firm over the government's investigation into employees who inappropriately solicited and received expensive gifts and entertainment from brokers who wanted the company's business. This is the second set of traders to leave the firm over the SEC [official website] and company's internal probe. Read more about Fidelity's policy on brokers taking gifts [Fidelity press release]. The Boston Globe has more.

In other news...

• Enron Corp. [corporate website; JURIST Hot Topic] has won court approval to pay as much as $45 million in bonuses to the employees ending the energy giant's operations. The company, which is selling its assets to raise $12 billion to pay-off creditors, believes that the employees will most likely receive about $16.8 million in bonuses. Bloomberg has more.
  
  
• As previously reported in JURIST's Paper Chase, US bankruptcy court Judge Letitia Clark ruled late Thursday that Russian oil company Yukos [official website] cannot seek information as to whether the Gazprom monopoly illegally took part in the sale of Yukos' main oil-producing unit. Reuters has more.
  
  
• In a decision likely to make bringing lawsuits for the technology bubble burst difficult, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to throw out a class-action lawsuit against Merrill Lynch [corporate website] and Henry Blodget, its onetime analyst best known for hyping Internet companies in research reports. Read the Second Circuit decision [PDF]. CBSMarketWatch has more.
  
  
• Hewlett-Packard [corporate website] announced it will pay Intergraph [corporate website] $141 million to settle a patent infringement dispute related to Intergraph's Clipper chip technology. Read the Hewlett-Packard press release. Read the Integraph press release. CNET News has more.

[JURIST] Judges in Malawi [BBC country profile; official government website] began their first strike late Thursday, refusing to hear cases until they receive a fleet of new cars - a promise made by former President Bakili Muluzi [Wikipedia profile]. Malawi Attorney General Ralph Kasambara [personal University of Malawi law faculty homepage] said that the unfortunate part of the situation is that current President Bingu wa Mutharika is being held accountable for the promises of his predecessor. The judges [Malawi Judiciary official website] currently drive rickety, unreliable cars that constantly need attention; they settled for state-of-the-art Toyota Prados after their requests for Mercedes Benz cars or BMWs were denied. Kasambara said five Prados are now on order. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that FCC officials have confirmed that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell [official website] will announce his resignation from the Commission Friday. A publicly-unconfirmed report of a possible announcement was carried early this morning in the Wall Street Journal. Powell's tenure as Commission chair was marked by controversy over telecommunications deregulation and, more recently, stricter broadcast indecency rules. His resignation after seven years on the board opens the way for President Bush to appoint a replacement, perhaps Commissioner Kevin Martin [official profile], a Republican. AP has more.

[JURIST] US bankruptcy court Judge Letitia Clark ruled late Thursday that Russian oil company Yukos [official website] cannot seek information as to whether the Russian state Gazprom [official website] monopoly illegally took part in the sale of Yukos' main oil-producing unit. Yukos had asked the judge to allow such inquiries so the company can proceed with its plans to sue entities behind the takeover of its Yuganskneftegaz subsidiary, auctioned last month to pay billions of dollars in back taxes allegedly owed by Yukos to the Russian government. Judge Clark has limited fact-finding to whether her court has jurisdiction in the case. Fromn Russia, MosNews has local coverage. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

• Deutsche Bank wants Yukos US bankruptcy claim dismissed
  
• Russian state oil firm buys Yukos production arm as Putin defends deal again

[JURIST] The US Army has charged Sgt. Kevin Benderman for refusing to return to Iraq for a second tour of duty because he now objects to war, an Army spokesman from Fort Stewart [official base website] Georgia said late Thursday. Benderman, an Army mechanic with 10 years in the military and eight months in Iraq in 2003, has been charged with desertion and intentionally skipping his deployment flight. Army investigators must choose whether to prosecute Benderman in a court-martial or handle his case administratively; if court-martialed, Benderman faces up to seven years in a military prison, reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge. Military courts can also opt for a finding of guilty with no punishment. AP has more. Earlier this week Sergeant Benderman published a column entitled A Matter of Conscience that has been widely republished. On January 14 he gave an interview [MP3; 38 minutes] to IMC Radio's John Canal.

[JURIST] An Irish appeals court Friday quashed the only criminal conviction stemming from the 1998 Omagh bombing [BBC file report; BBC backgrounder] which killed twenty-nine people and injured hundreds more in the largest terror attack in the history of the Northern Ireland "troubles". Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Real IRA [BBC backgrounder]. The Court of Criminal Appeal [official website] in Dublin granted a retrial to Colm Murphy, who was sentenced in 2002 to 14 years in prison by Ireland's anti-terrorist Special Criminal Court [official website] for providing cell phones to a terrorist organization. The quashed conviction was based on the original court's mishandling of evidence from two Irish detectives, who added false statements to handwritten interrogation notes, and because the original court had made illegal references to Murphy's previous convictions. AP has more. RTE, the Irish public broadcaster, provides extensive local coverage from Dublin.

[JURIST] Danish authorities have charged five soldiers - an intelligence officer and four military policemen - with "incorrect treatment" of Iraqi prisoners held in southern Iraq, Danish news agency Ritzau [media website] reported Friday. Denmark has 500 troops in the country headquartered at Camp Eden near Basra. The alleged abuse took place last year; complaints by other military personnel resulted in the intel officer, Reserve Capt. Annemette Hommel, being sent home before the end of her scheduled tour of duty. Hommel is accused of forcing prisoners to sit in stressful positions, denying them access to water, calling them "dogs" and "pigs" and threatening to kill them. She has been cited for extreme dereliction of duty under Article 15 of Denmark's military criminal code. Camp Commander Henrik Flach was also investigated but was not indicted. Reuters has more. The Copenhagen Post has local coverage in English from Denmark.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Friday, Jan. 21.

The 55th Presidential Inauguration [official website] comes to a close today with a National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral. C-SPAN has a live webcast of the hour-long ceremony beginning at 10 AM ET.

Members of the EU Commission [official website] will be sworn in today, beginning at 12 PM local time [6 AM ET]. A live webcast is available from the EU.