[JURIST] Following a marathon UN Security Council [official website] session ending late Thursday evening, the US abstained from voting on a draft resolution authorizing the International Criminal Court [official website] to prosecute war crimes cases in Darfur, Sudan [government website]. The French-sponsored resolution passed with 11 Security Council members voting in favor and 3 other members (Algeria, Brazil and China) joining the US in abstaining. The US has historically opposed the ICC, and has shied away from allowing the Security Council to use the court for fear of lending it legitimacy. Read the full text of Resolution 1593. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] announced Thursday that Sandy Berger [National Press Club profile], former national security advisor in the Clinton administration, will plead guilty to charges of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. Berger is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday, facing the possibility of a year in jail and $100,000 in fines. Berger has been quoted as admitting to taking the documents containing information on anti-terror efforts that he said he had wanted to study, and has called the entire incident "an honest mistake" [FOX News report]. Berger was most recently an advisor on Senator John Kerry's campaign, but was forced to step down from the position part way through the campaign after these allegations were brought to light. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court [official website] is investigating possible human rights violations during Colombia's 40 year civil war [Washington Post article], and has asked the Colombian government for its help. According to ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno [official profile], indicators point to upwards of 1,000 casualties, kidnappings and displacements in Columbia since late 2002. The Colombian government has said it will fully cooperate with the ICC. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] In the wake of Wednesday's second interim report of the UN's Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Program [IIC homepage] chaired by former Federal Reserve head Paul Volcker, the UN has issued a charge letter to Under-Secretary-General Dileep Nair [Wikipedia biography], head of the UN's Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), alleging improper use of funds. The IIC alleges that Nair used funds from the now defunct Iraqi Oil-for-Food Program [program website] to pay a special assistant, despite the fact the assistant did not perform any work for the program. The UN Staff Council in New York also alleges improper behavior, prompting a possible full external investigation of his tenure at the UN. The UN News Center has more.

[JURIST] Civil rights activist Fred Korematsu [InfoPlease profile] has died at daughter's home in California. The American-born son of Japanese immigrants who passed away Wednesday is best remembered for defiantly refusing to voluntarily submit himself to US internment camps during World War II. His conviction for violating the order to surrender to officials was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 1944 in the notorious Korematsu v. United States [text] ruling that some legal scholars have called the worst decision ever been handed down by the high court. Korematsu's conviction was ultimately overturned in 1983, and he was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom [Medal of Freedom citation] by President Clinton, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a civilian. AP has more.

[JURIST] The parliament of Turkey [JURIST news archive] voted Thursday to delay the implementation of the country's new penal code [JURIST report] until June 1. The reforms, passed in September as part of Turkey's efforts to join the European Union [official website], were scheduled to take effect Friday, but legislators voted on the delay to allow the government more time to make additional changes meant to ensure that the new legislation will not threaten press freedoms. Although the new penal code generally increases rights and freedoms, journalists have said that its vague language could make it easier to crack down on journalists as well as limit coverage of legal proceedings. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the delay "should be seen as a token of the importance we attach to the wishes of civil groups." AP has more.

[JURIST] Minority shareholders of embattled Russian oil company Yukos [corporate website; JURIST news archive] have begun to coordinate their efforts to ensure that losses incurred after Russia's dismantling of the oil company will be recouped. Shipston Group, a Bahamas-based investment fund, is coordinating the efforts and Shipston's manager said Thursday that the minority shareholders are seeking to be given a proportional share in Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos' former production facility auctioned off [JURIST report] last December in order to help pay off Yukos' $28 billion back tax bill. Shipston said that the minority shareholders will take legal action, if necessary to recoup their losses and said that the group will follow the example set by Menatep, Yukos' majority shareholder, which has filed a $28 billion lawsuit against Russia [JURIST report] and has promised to file other lawsuits in western courts. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] Thursday unanimously upheld Quebec language legislation known as Bill 101 [text], which makes French-speaking parents send their children to francophone schools. Under the bill, parents must have received the majority of their own schooling in English to be able to have their children educated in that language. Eight families had sought to prove that Bill 101 was discriminatory in precluding their children from receiving an education in English. The court found that members of the linguistic majority have no constitutional right to an education in English, the minority language in Quebec. Lawyers for the parents say they will take their fight to the United Nations. Read the Canadian Supreme Court opinion. In a separate ruling, the court did however ease restrictions on immigrants and native-born Canadians who move to Quebec from other provinces to receive an English education. The court ruled Quebec's government must make Bill 101 comply with Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [official website] Section 23, which states children who started school in English or French anywhere in Canada, or whose parents were educated in those languages, can be educated in that language. Bill 101 had precluded English-speakers from other provinces from continuing an English education in Quebec. Read the opinion. CTV has local coverage.

[JURIST] In Thursday's international brief, a US administration official said Wednesday night that the US would accept a pending French resolution, delayed from Wednesday [JURIST report], authorizing the International Criminal Court [official website] to investigate and try possible human rights abuses in the Darfur region of Sudan [government website]. The US has actively opposed the use of the ICC and its endorsement by the UN Security Council [official website] in the Darfur context, fearing that the international court could be used to prosecute US military and civilian personnel abroad for solely political motivations. The US official said that the US had agreed to the use of the ICC after obtaining a guarantee from Sudan that no US personnel would be submitted to the ICC for investigation or prosecution. This would be the first time that the Bush administration has accepted the court's legitimacy. The Security Council is scheduled to consider the draft resolution on the use of the ICC at 5 PM ET Thursday. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST Country news archive]. AP has more.

In other international legal news ...

• In Thursday's national elections in Zimbabwe [government website], a group of apparently inebriated military veterans have shut down a polling station at Insindi Farm in Gwanda unless one of their members is allowed to enter as a polling monitor for the ruling Zanu PF [official website] party. Precious Moyo, a military veteran from Zimbabwe's 1970s independence wars, has claimed that he is an official monitor, but the presiding officer of the polling station said Moyo was not on the approved list, and denied him access. Moyo's former military compatriots were upset at this statement and took to heckling the polling officials and then blocked all access to the polling station, telling civilians that they should not vote until Moyo was allowed to observe. Local police officials tasked with keeping peace were overwhelmed and had to call in help from the provincial elections command centre in Gwanda town. Less than half of the individuals registered to vote at the Insindi Farm polling station had cast their votes when the station was forcefully closed. Local police have announced they will be investigating the incident. Specific reports from other polling stations are thusfar sparse. The national elections, charged with already being unfair by human rights groups and international observers [JURIST report], have proceeded relatively peacefully so far, but press restrictions on foreign media have remained in place, calling in question the accuracy of in-country reports. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST Country news archive].
  
  
• Allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation have been filed against a female division head in the United Nations. Carina Perelli, Chief of the UN's Electoral Assistance Division [official website], is alleged to have fostered a working environment that was "abusive" and full of sexual innuendo and intimidation. An investigation was ordered following several reports from staffers complaining of the work environment. The report was released Thursday, but UN officials have called it 'preliminary' and stated that it was not proof of wrongdoing. Perelli is reportedly preparing a response to the allegations to be released shortly. BBC News has more.
  
  
• South Korea [government website] will launch its new, executively mandated, anti-terrorism agency Friday. The Terrorism Information Integration Center was set up by executive order from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun [official profile] after an anti-terrorism bill failed in the National Assembly [government website]. Roh issued an executive order on March 15 that streamlined all current intelligence agencies into three functions: a regular informational meeting presided over by the Prime Minister, a standing terrorism information committee, and the TIIC. South Korea came under intense internal pressure to update its anti-terror network after Korean national Kim Sun-il was kidnapped and killed in Iraq last year and intelligence agencies failed to share information on the situation. Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.

[JURIST] According to Iranian doctor Shahram Azam, Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi [CBC backgrounder] was tortured and raped during her detention by Iranian authorities before her death in July 2003. The claims by Dr. Azam [Globe and Mail report] contradict the conclusions of Iranian authorities who said the death could have been accidental. Aazam said he was the first doctor to examine Kazemi after she was taken to a Tehran hospital following her arrest for taking photographs of a demonstration in front of a prison. Azam, who was later granted asylum in Canada, said Kazemi's entire body had strange markings and described massive bruising around her head and ears, and a fractured skull. Iran's government admitted Kazemi was beaten but maintains the death was accidental. The Iranian security agent charged with killing her was acquitted [JURIST report]. Azam is attempting to refocus attention on the case in hopes it will lead to the indictment of the Iranian government. The Toronto Globe and Mail has more.

[JURIST] The World Bank [official website] has unanimously approved the nomination of US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz [DOD biography] as the next president of the 184-nation development bank. Wolfowitz was seen as a controversial choice [JURIST rpeort] because of his role as architect of the Iraq war and his support of overseas harsh governments. Wolfowitz sought to dampen criticism by saying poverty reduction and economic development were the bank's stated mission and that he would not pursue any kind of political agenda. The bank has traditionally had an American president because the country is the largest shareholder. Read the World Bank press release. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Lagon has said the United States will seek international censure of Cuba's human rights record by presenting a resolution at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website]. The resolution will look at prior actions taken by the commission to determine whether Cuba has been acting to conform to their requirements. The resolution also seeks the extension of the mandate of the Catherine Chanet, the UN special rapporteur, who is examining the human rights situation in Cuba. Cuba has refused to cooperate with Chanet. Lagon said European and Latin American countries will support the resolution while Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has stated the US will not get the support required to pass the resolution. Last year, the commission voted to adopt a resolution which criticized the crackdown on dissidents in Cuba. Chanet has warned that these dissidents are being held in "alarming conditions." AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [official website] on Thursday called on ousted Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev [BBC News profile] to resign his post to ensure stability in the Central Asian country. Akayev has given conflicting messages on whether he would resign [JURIST report] as leader or seek to retain [JURIST report] the position following a week of turmoil. OSCE also warned interim leaders in Kyrgyzstan to avoid political infighting until new elections can be held in June. OSCE chief Dimitrij Rupel made the comment during a third high-level visit to the troubled former Soviet republic that collapsed into political chaos earlier this month after parliamentary elections were disputed. Akayev is reportedly staying outside Moscow, after he was forced to flee the country when opposition protesters stormed the presidential complex. Read the OSCE news release on the situation. AP has more.

[JURIST]In Thursday's environmental law news, Australian state and territory leaders have agreed to establish their own carbon-trading system which would set a cap on the total volume of greenhouse gases an industry can emit. They would then divide the cap into permits, equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide, which companies could trade with each other. The cap and trade system would be similar to those being developed and implemented in other countries, usually to comply with the Kyoto Protocol [text] emission reduction requirements. The Australian federal government has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The Australian has the full story.

In other news,

• The California state legislature is considering a bill [text] that would prohibit the manufacture or sale of any product intended for use by a child 3 years of age or younger, if it contains bisphenol A. Bisphenol A is the prime chemical used for making the polycarbonate plastic popular in durable, clear Nalgene water bottles, hard plastic baby bottles, liners inside canned food, and thousands of other consumer products. Research has found that the chemical can disrupt the hormone systems of lab animals, affecting the workings of their brains. While the use of the chemical is usually at insignificant levels in most products, there is concern that widespread exposure might effect mental development in children. The San Francisco Chronicle has the full story.
  
  
• The US Fish and Wildlife service [official website] seeks comments on a proposed rule that would designate 376,095 acres on a combination of Federal, State, Tribal, and private lands in southern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, south-central Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico as critical habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher [factpage](Empidonax extimus traillii) under the auspices of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 [text]. Comments can be made here until May 31.
  
  
• The USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service [official website] seeks comments on an interim final rule [text] that would modify the grade, size, maturity, and packing requirements for fresh shipments of California nectarines and peaches, starting with the 2005 season. The annual CA nectarine and peach crop sells for over $200 million. Comments can be made here until May 31.
  

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's corporations and securities law news, Canada has retaliated against several US goods by levying a 15% surtax on cigarettes, oysters, and live swine. The action is a response to the Byrd Amendment [text] which allows American companies to keep the proceeds that Washington collects in anti-dumping disputes. Canada and other countries say that the amendment, which the WTO [official website] found to be illegal [JURIST story], unfairly enriches US rival firms. CTV has more. The European Union [official website] also announced it will impose retaliatory duties on US imports. The EU said the law has given American companies including Timken Co. [corporate website] and US Steel Corp. [corporate website] more than $1 billion in tariffs collected from foreign rivals. The EU will impose an extra 15% duty on some types of paper, clothing and machinery beginning May 1. The new tariffs will total about $28 million. Read the EU press release. Bloomberg has more.

In other news...

• The European Union has approved the acquisition of the British industrial holding company Novar PLC by Honeywell International Inc. [corporate website] for $1.7 billion. Honeywell still needs to sell Esser Italia, Novar's fire alarm business in Italy, to gain full approval. Read the EU press release. Read the Honeywell press release. AP has more.
  
  
• The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Cos. [corporate website], which last year reduced the level of its proven reserves after overstating them, announced in an SEC filing [ZIP] that it had reserves of 11.9 billion barrels of oil and gas holdings at the end of 2004. The report indicates the company replaced less than half the oil it pumped last year with new finds. The report worries many investors who feel Shell will not be able to find proven oil reserves. Read the Shell press release. Reuters has more.
  
  
• The SEC's top officer in Boston has announced that the agency and the Food and Drug Administration [official website] will step up cooperation to find drug companies that make misstatements to regulators. The FDA is now referring cases to the SEC [official website] and is willing to be become a witness in some investigations. The Boston Globe has more.
  
  
• Origen Financial Inc. [corporate website], a real estate investment trust, has announced it will restate earnings after discovering an accounting error in a pool of loans it acquired. The company has asked for an extension to file its annual report with the SEC and is expected to finish it before April 15. Read the Origen press release. AP has more.
  
  
• Mark V. Hurd, who takes over tomorrow as chief executive and president of Hewlett-Packard Co. [corporate website], will reportedly receive cash, stock and perks worth at least $20 million at the start of his new job. The Washington Post has more.
  
  
• Continental Airlines [corporate website] flight attendants have rejected a tentative deal to cut wages and benefits. Continental said it would continue to work with the flight attendants saying their current pay is not sustainable. The airline will implement concessions made by other unions including those representing pilots and mechanics. AP has more.
  
  
• Qwest Communications International [corporate website] has reportedly hired the Altman Group, a New York proxy firm, to contact MCI Inc. [corporate website] shareholders about Qwest's $8.5 billion acquisition offer for the company. The hiring indicates Qwest may launch a hostile takeover bid for MCI. MCI's board had accepted rival Verizon's $7.6 billion bid on Tuesday citing better growth prospects. CBSMarketWatch has more.

[JURIST] Rwanda's main group of Hutu [Wikipedia entry] rebels denounced the 1994 genocide [Human Rights Watch backgrounder] of Tutsis [Wikipedia entry] for the first time Thursday and announced they were ending their war against the Rwanda government. Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the delegation representing the rebel organization, said the group will lay down its arms to transform its fight into a political struggle and was ready to cooperate with international justice. Diplomats attending the secret negotiations over the Hutu announcement said that it is now up to the Rwandan government to provide guarantees that disarmed rebels could return home safely with full legal rights. The Rwandan government has thus far said that FDLR fighters suspected of involvement in the genocide would be investigated and tried. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A family spokesman says that severely brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo has died.

10:02 AM ET - Terri Schiavo's death comes nearly 14 days after removal of her feeding tube. Her death has been confirmed by George Felos, attorney for Terri's husband Michael Schiavo. News reports are giving her time of death as just after 9 AM ET.

10:17 AM ET - AP now has a full story. NBC WFLA-TV in Tampa has posted recorded video of the breaking news flash and the death announcement by Schindler family spokesman Father Paul O'Donnell.

11:45 AM ET - President Bush said the nation has been saddened by Terri Schiavo's death and that "the strong have a duty to protect the weak." Watch recorded video from NBC WFLA-TV in Tampa.

3:30 PM ET - US House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner has issued a statement on Schiavo's death [text] criticizing the courts' reaction to Pub. L. 109-3 [text, JURIST report], the bill passed by Congress allowing the federal courts to review Schiavo's case:

Congress in a bipartisan fashion took up Terri's cause and met in extraordinary session to provide Terri with an opportunity for a new, full, and fresh review in federal court of her right to receive life-sustaining treatment. Regrettably, this effort did not receive the court review the law requires.

[JURIST] A presidential commission on Thursday said US intelligence agencies know "disturbingly little" about threats posed by the nation's most dangerous adversaries, and the commission recommended more than 70 changes that President Bush can make to improve intelligence. The WMD Presidential Commission [official website] appointed [executive order] by President Bush to determine why US spy agencies mistakenly concluded that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction released its findings in a report, in which it said American agencies were "dead wrong" about Iraq. It outlined 74 recommendations that President Bush can implement without legislative action by Congress to improve changes made by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 [text]. The Commission urged Bush to give broad powers to John Negroponte [Wikipedia profile], the new director of national intelligence [White House background briefing on position; Congressional Research Service paper [PDF]]. The report found Negroponte will need these powers to effectively combat challenges to his authority from the CIA [official website], Department of Defense and others in the nation's fifteen spy agencies. The Commission also said the FBI [official website] should combine its counterterrorism and counterintelligence resources into one office. The report indicates the Bush administration did not manipulate intelligence used in launching the 2003 Iraq war, instead blaming bad intelligence. The Commission also found that spy agencies did not distort the evidence in presenting the case for war in Iraq. The public version of the report does not contain much detail on intelligence capabilities in Iran and North Korea to avoid disclosing America's current intelligence. Read the WMD Commission report [text]. AP has more.

[JURIST] An appeals court in Afghanistan has reduced the sentences of three US citizens who had been convicted of torturing Afghans and running a private jail in Kabul. The three men, Jonathan Idema [BBC profile], Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo, who were in Afghanistan on a freelance terrorist hunt, were arrested in July, 2004 after Afghan forces raided a house in Kabul and found eight Afghan men being held captive. The three were sentenced last September during a trial which correspondents called chaotic and marred by poor translation. Defense lawyers argued the Afghan legal system was not fit to try the men. Idema and Bennett's sentences were reduced from ten years to five and three respectively, while Carballo's sentence was reduced from eight to two years after the court dismissed a charge that they entered the country illegally. The court also rejected an appeal to overturn the convictions. The three will appeal to the Afghan Supreme Court. AP has more.

[JURIST] Israel's Supreme Court [official website] ruled Thursday that the country can recognize non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism not performed in Israel, a decision which challenges the Orthodox monopoly over Israili religious affairs. Up to this time, converts who sought Israeli citizenship needed an Orthodox rabbi to perform the conversion in Israel. Now, however, people who are converted by non-Orthodox rabbis outside the country can gain Israeli citizenship under Israel's "Law of Return" which grants automatic citizenship to anyone who is Jewish. The Reform [official website] and Conservative Jewish movements have called the ruling important but said it was only a partial victory. The case was brought by 17 foreigners who had studied the Reform conversion in Israel but had the actual ceremonies performed outside Israel. Israeli authorities protested saying the Law of Return [text] only applies to those who do not already live in Israel. The ruling, although accepting conversions abroad, does not reach those conversions completed in Israel under Reform or Conservative supervision. Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz will implement the decision and will review it to determine its confines. The Israeli Knesset has been called back into session next week to consider the implications of the ruling. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage. AP has more.

[JURIST] Myanmar's military junta announced Thursday that it has adjourned talks to draw up a new democratic constitution for the country. Military officials blamed high temperatures and the upcoming monsoon season for the closing of the National Convention, suggesting the talks will not restart until November at the earliest. Western critics have labelled the move a mere device to preserve the military's power, especially as opposition figures such as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile] remain under house arrest. The Army, which has run Myanmar [official website] - formerly known as Burma - for the better part of four decades, was in talks to implement a seven stage roadmap to democracy laid out by recently ousted Prime Minister Khin Nyunt. The move also allows the military government to take the chair of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) [IGO website] in mid-2006 without ratifying a new constitution. ASEAN fears however, that such a move will tarnish the regional group's image worldwide. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A military court in Germany Thursday found US Army Captain Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet [advocacy petition website] guilty of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian last year, a lesser charge than that sought by military prosecutors who wanted him convicted of assault with intent to commit murder. The conviction on the manslaughter count carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. The charges against Maynulet stemmed from an incident in May 2004 when Maynulet's 1st Armored Division [official website] was alerted to a car which was thought to be carrying radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and another militiaman. His company chased the car and fired at it, wounding the passenger and the driver. Maynulet then shot and killed the wounded driver. The shooting was caught on tape [AP report] by a US drone surveillance aircraft. Maynulet maintains he acted out of mercy [JURIST report] when he killed the driver and his lawyers argued that the actions were in line with the Geneva Conventions. The Court will reconvene later Thursday to determine Maynulet's sentencing. AP has more.

[JURIST] In what is expected to be the very last high court appeal by the parents of Terri Schiavo [JURIST new archive], the US Supreme Court [official website] late Wednesday rejected another petition [text, PDF] to have Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted pending a legal review. The petition against a Wednesday Eleventh Circuit ruling [JURIST report] refusing a full court rehearing of the case was received by Justice Anthony Kennedy who fowarded it to the full court. The Court declined the request in one-sentence statement. AFP has more.

In other developments Wednesday in the Schiavo case, Rev. Jesse Jackson apparently failed in a bid to persuade either Governor Jeb Bush or Florida state legislators in Tallahassee to intervene to reconnect Terri Schiavo's feeding tubes, and in a news conference [ABC WTSP-TV Tampa video] said that it was time for the family to accept the possibility of her death. The Florida Ledger has local coverage.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, March 31.

The US Senate and US House [official websites] are in recess until April 4.

The American Society of International Law is hosting a speech by Human Rights Watch Deputy Director Joanne Mariner on human rights in Sudan. Watch a live webcast of the speech via C-SPAN 2 beginning at 1:30 PM ET.

The Congressional Internet Caucus is holding a forum titled "Campaign Regulation and the Internet," beginning at 3 PM ET. Watch a live webcast of the event via C-SPAN.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the trial of Fatmir Limaj and others [ICTY case backgrounder] continues today at 9:30 PM local time [3:30 AM ET]. Also today, Vinko Pandurevic [ICTY case backgrounder] will make an initial appearance at 2:45 PM local time [8:45 AM ET], and Radivoje Miletic will make a further initial appearance before the tribunal at 4:30 PM local time [10:30 AM ET]. Watch a webcast of proceedings.