[JURIST] Admitting that nations cannot effectively tackle the issues alone, delegates to the UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice [official website] in Bangkok, Thailand, concluded their session Monday by pledging international cooperation and an integrated approach in international crime prevention and anti-terror efforts. Participants, numbering more than 3,000 delegates from 130 countries, admitted that the lack of an international definition of terrorism is badly needed while also acknowledging global problems in arms, human, and drug trafficking, money laundering, and illegal immigration. VOA News has more. Watch recorded video of the conference's closing press conference.

[JURIST] Senate leaders Bill Frist [R-Tenn.] and Harry Reid [D-Nev.] have been meeting privately in hopes of reaching a deal in which Senate Democrats would allow confirmation of at least two of President Bush's seven disputed nominees for appellate judgeships, but only as part of a larger agreement in which Republicans would end their attack on judicial filibusters. Democrats insist that in exchange for their cooperation regarding the disputed nominees, the so-called "nuclear option" of ending judicial filibusters must be taken out of consideration by Republicans. In a press release Monday Frist criticized what he called a Democratic "shutdown" of the Senate over the judicial nominee flap. Reid's official website contains releases from his perspective. AP has more.

[JURIST] A US investigation into the accidental shooting death of an Italian agent in Iraq by American soldiers has cleared the troops of the wrongdoing, an Army official said Monday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official also said that the troops will not be disciplined in the matter, but that the Italian government disagrees with the findings and has thus far refused to endorse the report. Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari fell victim to friendly fire at a military checkpoint on March 4 [JURIST report] while escorting journalist Giuliana Sgrena, a recently-released hostage, to the airport. While expressing remorse over the incident, the US military official defended the soldiers actions, expressing the importance of following official procedure in Iraq. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the suspected leader of al Qaeda in Spain, has denied any connection to Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta [Wikipedia profile], as well as accusations that he helped arrange a planning meeting between Atta and another suspected Sept. 11 hijacker. Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, is the prime suspect in the Madrid trial [JURIST report] of 24 men accused of belonging to the terrorist group, and is one of three men charged with mass murder in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. BBC News has background on the suspected connection between the alleged members of al Qaeda in Spain and the Sept. 11 attacks. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US has indicted Haji Bashir Noorzai, an accused Afghan heroin kingpin, in a massive narcotics conspiracy involving Afghanistan's former Taliban regime [Wikipedia profile]. US Attorney David Kelley [official website] announced [Kelley press release, PDF] the indictment against Noorzai, one the world's most wanted drug kingpins [US State Dept. press release]. The seven-page indictment alleges Noorzai of leading an international trafficking ring based in Afghanistan and Pakistan that brought at least $50 million worth of heroin to the United States and other countries. US authorities have previously indicated that Noorzai helped finance al-Qaeda [BBC profile] when it operated in Afghanistan under Taliban protection. Kelley said Noorzai provided demolitions, weaponry and militia manpower to the Taliban before the US-led invasion toppled the regime. Noorzai, who was arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration [official website] on Saturday while he was traveling to the United States, will make his first appearance Monday afternoon in federal court in Manhattan. Noorzai, if convicted could face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum possible sentence of life in prison. The government will also seek nearly $50 million in forfeiture of Noorzai's assets as part of the sentence. CNN has more.

[JURIST] The Justice Department [official website] and the SEC [official website] are close to announcing a settlement with bankrupt cable television provider Adelphia Communications Corp. [corporate website] over the company's accounting issues. Under the terms of the settlement, Adelphia would pay $715 million into a compensation fund. The Rigas family, the founders of Adelphia, will also settle with the DOJ and SEC by giving up 95 percent of their assets. Adelphia collapsed in 2002 after allegations were made that the Rigas family siphoned millions of dollars of company funds for personal use and misrepresented its financial condition. Adelphia's founder, John Rigas [Wikipedia profile], and his son, Timothy, the company's former chief financial officer, were convicted of fraud and conspiracy last year [JURIST report; SEC complaint]. Just last week, Adelphia announced it has accepted a buyout offer from joint bidders Time Warner Inc. [corporate website] and Comcast Corp. [corporate website] valued at $17.6 billion in cash and stock [Time Warner press release]. The settlement payout would be among the highest ever paid by an American corporation. WorldCom, now MCI Inc. [corporate website], paid the largest fine of $750 million [SEC press release] in 2003. Reuters has more.

4:15 PM ET - The SEC press release on the Adelphia settlement is now online.

[JURIST] In a historic step for ex-communist Romania and Bulgaria, the two countries Monday signed an accession treaty with the European Union (EU) [official website] which should lead to them joining the bloc in 2007. They were left out of last year's EU enlargement from 15 to 25, including the incorporation of eight ex-communist countries, because they were slow to begin reforms following the 1989 collapse of communism in the region. With a combined population of some 30 million, Romania and Bulgaria would be the poorest countries in the union, with a pro capita GDP of less than 30 percent of the bloc average. The countries now have 20 months to bring their countries up to EU standards and if they fail to do so, their entry could be delayed until January 2008 under the "safeguard clause." Romania is said to be under heavy pressure to comply with EU standards in the areas of justice and home affairs and competition policy. The EU has still satisfied itself that Bulgaria has stamped out the rampant corruption that pervades the country. Read the EU press release. The EU has extended coverage of the signing of the accession treaty by Bulgaria and Romania including streaming video of the ceremony. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi politicians again delayed naming a government on Monday, prolonging a three-month political vacuum in the country. Jawad al-Maliki, a top member of the main Shiite alliance that won January's elections, said wrangling over appointments to key ministries had put off Monday's expected announcement of a proposed cabinet. Shiites, Kurds, and Sunnis are all especially concerned about the leadership of security and defense ministries as well as the crucial oil ministry. The deadlock has prompted the US to take a more vocal role in Iraqi politics. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday urged Iraqi politicians to move more quickly to form a government [Reuters report]. The cabinet and the prime minister have to be approved by a simple majority in the 275-seat National Assembly. Lawmakers have said the Shi'ite alliance was expected to take 17 of a likely 32 ministries. The Kurds were expected to receive eight posts and the Sunnis the rest. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Industry leaders including Microsoft and Oracle spoke out on Monday about the need to reform US patent law to curb abusive litigation and protect technological development. The Senate Judiciary Committee [official site] plans to meet later today to discuss patent reform, with Segway inventor Dean Kamen, and lawyers for Intel and Micron Technologies to give testimony [official hearing notice and witness list]. In an address to Congressional staffers organized by the Association for Competitive Technology [official site], the companies stated that the law should be reformed to make it easier to challenge patents after they are issued. Microsoft has become a strong critic of the patent system, which causes it to spend $100 million a year defending itself against 35 to 40 lawsuits at any one time. A jury recently awarded Eolas Technologies $565 million in damages--which has been partially reversed [Federal Circuit opinion, PDF]--in a patent dispute over Internet Explorer. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also backing patent reform. Additional avenues for review and opposition will help to filter out "bad patents," said the Chamber's intellectual property director, Brad Huther. Huther added that Congress will take its time in reforming the patent laws. "This is not a problem that's going to be solved in a matter of years." CNET has more.

[JURIST] Russian president Vladimir Putin [official site, English version] stressed the need for a law-based society in his annual State of the Nation address on Monday, and encouraging investors to keep their money in Russia. "Tax authorities have no rights to terrorize business," Putin said in a 47-minute speech in the Kremlin. Putin's emphasis on boosting investor confidence comes two days before the verdict is due in the trial of Yukos oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive]. Supporters of Khodorkovsky have said that the government's prosecution was politically-motivated. Putin sought to resassure investors, who were scared off by the Yukos investigation, by pledging to protect business from corrupt government officials. Another Russian oil giant, TNK-BP, was presented this month with a tax claim of about $1 billion [BBC report]. Putin said tax officials should focus on checking current tax bills rather than chasing companies for years of back-taxes and that the period for investigating past privatizations should be shortened from ten years to three. Read the full text of Putin's address [previous years' addresses available here]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, Florida's insurance regulation commissioner [official website] announced subpoenas have been sent to officials at 17 insurance companies, including units of American International Group Inc. [corporate website], Chubb Corp., Swiss Re AG [corporate website], Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s unit National Indemnity Company of the South and Hannover Re AG [corporate website], over a probe into alleged improper use of reinsurance to overstate the value of companies. The Florida probe is the latest investigation, which includes the SEC [official website] and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer [official website], into the widespread abuses by the insurance industry. The purported deals under investigation used finite reinsurance, a form of insurance which limits the amount of risk transferred from the insurance company to the reinsurance company through the use of various provisions. If the risk in the reinsurance transaction is misstated, the company may receive favorable accounting numbers for which it does not deserve. Read the Florida insurance regulation commissioner press release. AP has more.

In other news...

• Billionaire investor and former New York Stock Exchange director Kenneth Langone is leading a group of seat holders on the NYSE [corporate website] in an attempt to purchase the Big Board. The move would override the NYSE's merger with Archipelago Holdings Inc [corporate website]. Langone feels the deal [NYSE press release, PDF] is too generous to Archipelago and does not represent the true value of the NYSE. AP has more.
  
  
• Ken Rice, the former chief executive of Enron's Internet business, told jurors he lied to analysts about the capabilities of the company's broadband network in an effort to bolster the value of Enron's [corporate website; JURIST Hot Topic news archive] stock. Rice also implicated former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling [Wikipedia profile] and four of the five former Enron Broadband Services (EBS) [Enron overview] executives who are currently on trial as accomplices. Rice has already reached a plea bargain [PDF] with prosecutors. Skilling is not being tried in these proceedings, however the five former EBS executives on trial are charged with 170 counts of conspiracy, wire and securities fraud, insider trading and money laundering. Read the indictment [PDF] against the five executives and the original indictment against Ken Rice [PDF]. The Houston Chronicle has more. In related news, Jeff Skilling was ordered to leave the courtroom during the trial of the five executives because court rules prohibit witnesses or even potential witnesses from observing the proceedings. Skilling had been taken off the defense witness list but his name was a recent added back to the defense list. The Houston Chronicle has more and continuing coverage of the Enron Broadband Services trial.
  
  
• Valero Energy Corp. [corporate website] announced plans to acquire Premcor Inc. [corporate website] for $6.9 billion in cash and stock. The new company would be the largest refiner of crude oil in North America. The boards of directors of both companies have already unanimously approved the acquisition. The deal now must get approval from Premcor's shareholders and customary regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to be completed by December 31. Read the Valero press release. AP has more.
  
  
• Huntington Bancshares Inc. [corporate website] said it would offer to pay a $7.5 million fine to end a SEC investigation into its accounting practices related to auto leases from 2002 and earlier. The deal also calls for separate civil fines to be paid by Thomas E. Hoaglin, the bank's chairman, president and chief executive officer, Michael J. McMennamin, its former vice chairman and chief financial officer, and former Controller John D. Van Fleet. The SEC still has to agree to the deal, although investigators have recommended the commission accept it. Huntington has already reached agreements over its accounting practices with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the US Comptroller of the Currency [official website]. Columbus Business First has more.
  
  
• Constellation Brands [corporate website], the world's largest winemaker, said it is considering a rival bid for Allied Domecq [corporate website], the UK drinks company which last week accepted a £7.4 billion ($14 billion) takeover bid from Pernod Ricard [corporate website] of France and Fortune Brands [corporate website] of the US. Constellation would need to find partners to bid on Allied as it is not large enough to bid on the company alone. According to reports, Allied would have to pay a penalty of £ 37 million if it accepted a rival takeover bid within half a year. BBC News has more.
  
  
• As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Arthur Andersen [Wikipedia profile] has reached a settlement with WorldCom [now MCI Inc. corporate website] investors over accusations the company violated securities laws when it failed to protect WorldCom investors from the $11 billion accounting fraud which led to WorldCom's collapse. US District Judge Denise Cote said an approval hearing on the settlement would occur on Tuesday. The trial had reached its fifth week before the announcement of the deal. Arthur Andersen was the only defendant left in the trial after major investment banks agreed to pay more than $6 billion in settlements [New York State comptroller press release] and a dozen former board members settled the case for $24.75 million before the trial began. Click for information from the WorldCom litigation. AP has more.

[JURIST] Arthur Andersen [Wikipedia entry], the former accounting giant which lost its licenses in the Enron collapse, announced a settlement on Monday with WorldCom investors who had accused the firm of violating securities laws and failing to protect them from WorldCom's $11 billion accounting fraud. Details of the settlement were not announced, and an expedited preliminary approval hearing on the settlement is set to occur Tuesday. The deal came during the fifth week of trial in a class action lawsuit brought after WorldCom's 2002 collapse [JURIST News Archive], the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Before trial, major investment banks agreed to pay more than $6 billion in settlements and a dozen former board members settled the case for $24.75 million, leaving Arthur Andersen as the sole defendant. Last month, former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and false regulatory filings in the accounting scandal, and may now spend the rest of his life in prison [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Armenians around the world have been remembering the massacre of their people ninety years ago by the Ottoman Empire [Armenian National Institute backgrounder]. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the Armenian city of Yerevan Sunday to pay their respects. In the US, hundreds of Armenian-Americans marched in Los Angeles and other cities [AP report]. On April 24, 1915, the government of Ottoman Turkey rounded up 250 leaders of the Armenian community and exiled or executed them. Over the next two years, 1.5 million Armenians were killed or died during deportations from Turkey. Armenian President Robert Kocharian [official site, English version] is currently leading an effort to have Turkey acknowledge the killings as genocide. Turkey, however, denies that genocide took place [Turkish DC Embassy backgrounder] and characterizes the killings as casualties of World War I. Currently, Armenia has no diplomatic relations with Turkey, and has closed off its borders. France, Russia, Poland and Germany are among 15 nations that believe the killings amounted to genocide. Armenia hopes that Europe will push Turkey to change its stance, as Turkey begins membership talks with the EU. BBC News has more. An Armenian news report points out that President Bush did not use the word "genocide" in his statement on Armenian Remembrance Day. [A1Plus Armenian News]. The White House has the full text of President Bush's statement here [official site].

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear Oregon v. Guzek (docket 04-928), a death sentence case involving a convicted murderer's efforts to bring evidence into his sentencing hearing that would cast doubt on the conviction. A ruling here could clarify the Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Franklin v. Lynaugh [opinion]; it could also have an impact on the case of accused terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, who entered a guilty plea on Friday [JURIST report] and for whom the government will be seeking the death penalty.

Other cases granted certiorari Monday were Domino's Pizza v. McDonald (04-593), a Ninth Circuit civil rights case involving restaurant construction; Lockhart v. U.S. (04-881), which tests the federal government's power to reduce an individual's Social Security pension or disability benefits as a way to recover defaulted student loan debt [AP has more]; Dolan v. U.S. Postal Service (04-848), addressing whether the Federal Tort Claims Act [resource page] allows a claim for injury due to tripping on mail left on the plaintiff's porch; and Martin v. Franklin Capital Corp. (04-1140), which seeks to resolve a circuit split over the standard to be used in deciding whether to award attorneys' fees in a case remanded to state court after having been removed to federal court. All five cases accepted Monday will be heard in the new term starting in October. Also Monday, the court declined to hear Acree v. Iraq (04-820), an appeal by 17 current and former US military personnel held as prisoners of war and tortured during the 1991 Gulf War. The full Order list is here. SCOTUSblog has more.

[JURIST] Following yet another interruption because of his health problems, the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] resumed Monday at the International Court Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [court website]. Milosevic stayed out of court late last week after doctors warned him that he was at risk of a heart attack as his blood pressure was "dangerously high". At the beginning of Monday's proceedings, Milosevic took aim at the court's efforts to subject a defense witness to cross-examination during his absence, which resulted in the witness being charged with contempt [JURIST report] after his refusal to comply. The witness, Kosovo Serb leader Costa Bulatovic, was cross-examined without incident on Monday upon Milosevic's return to the court. The trial, which has been interrupted more than a dozen times, has been going on since February 2002 and could result in a life sentence for Milosevic. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Legislative Commission of the National People's Congress [backgrounder] of China has presented a draft interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law [official text] that would permit a new Hong Kong Chief Executive to be elected to the remainder of the original executive term of his predecessor if that is cut short. Opposition leaders in Hong Kong are alleging that China is adopting this view in order to ensure that Acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang [official profile], the mainland choice to fill the post, is given the benefit of two years in office before having to run as a candidate to permanently replace Tung Chee Hwa [archived profile], who stepped aside in March. Tsang previously referred the dispute to the NPC [JURIST report], which claims interpretative authority over Hong Kong's constitutional Basic Law under the 1997 re-unification agreement. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Hong Kong [JURIST news archive]. China Daily has local coverage.

[JURIST] A UK newspaper has disclosed that the legal advice rendered to Prime Minister Tony Blair's government on the eve of the Iraq war included multiple caveats that were not included in a one-page summary supporting the conflict that was released to Parliament at the time. A copy of the full report by UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith [profile] was leaked to the Daily Mail. Goldsmith's six caveats, ranging from a belief that it was the UN's role to declare Iraq in breach of UN resolutions to a warning that US legal authority was different because of the powers granted the US president by Congress, were stripped out of the report before the summary was published. Blair has faced increasing criticism from political oppenents over the legality of entering the Iraq war as the date for national elections, currently scheduled for May 5, draws closer. The Daily Mail has more. Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• UK Government under pressure over Iraq
  
• British AG denies lack of involvement on Iraq legal justification
  
• UK government manipulated legal justifications for Iraq war

[JURIST] The top UN investigator in Afghanistan, M. Cherif Bassiouni [academic profile], has been released from his post following his issuance Thursday of a report [JURIST report] to the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website] heavily critical of US-led military forces in Afghanistan, alleging that they had made unlawful detentions and had not allowed human rights inspectors into detention and prison facilities to inspect the conditions. Bassiouni's report [PDF text] included the following paragraph about abuse of prisoners and absence of effective prosecution for perpetrators:

The independent expert has received accounts of actions that fall under the internationally accepted definition of torture. For example, a district governor from Paktia province who was assisting the Coalition forces was arrested, gagged, hooded and taken to a base in Urgun, where he was beaten, forced to stand in a stress position for a prolonged period of time, exposed to the cold, and denied food and water. He also reported the torture and sexual abuse of up to 20 other persons. When his identity was confirmed five days later, he was released, although the fate of the other detainees remains unclear. An investigation by the Criminal Investigative Command led to a classified report obtained by a newspaper in the United States that recommends that 28 personnel be prosecuted in connection with the deaths of detainees held by United States forces. However, to date, prosecutions have been limited, raising questions about the interest of United States officials in investigating and prosecuting these cases. The independent expert also expresses serious concerns about the alleged transfer of some prisoners from Guantánamo Bay to Afghanistan as well as the process of informal rendition, whereby detainees are transferred to third-party countries where they are subjected to abuse and torture in clear violation of international human rights and humanitarian law. The Coalition forces’ use of distinct units that answer to different command and control structures is dangerously permeating the Afghan military and security organizations and remains a source of serious human rights violations. In general, the Coalition forces’ practice of placing themselves above and beyond the reach of the law must come to an end.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics [official website] reported Sunday that prison incarceration rates for 2003 - 2004 hit an all-time high, with nearly 2.3 percent of the population being jailed for some length of time. The study showed that while crime is decreasing, the incarceration rate is far outstripping the release rate of US prisons. The study's co-author contributed the rise to tougher penal laws passed in the late 1980s and 1990s like "three strikes" laws, "truth in sentencing" laws, and stricter drug sentencing requirements. Prison advocacy groups are warning that the increase in incarceration coupled with the decrease in release rates is leading to a dangerous situation of overcrowding, which they argue is a violation of human rights for prison inmates. Read the Bureau of Justice Statistics official report [PDF text] and the accompanying press release. AP has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, April 25.

The US Supreme Court [official website] hears oral arguments in two cases beginning at 10 AM ET today. In the first, Halbert v. Michigan [Duke Law School case backgrounder], 03-10198, the Court will consider whether Michigan's practice of not appoint counsel to indigent defendants who plead guilty violates the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. The ABA has merit briefs in the case. In the second case, Gonzales v. Crosby [Duke Law School case backgrounder], 04-6432, the Court will decide whether a court of appeals wrongly held that every Rule 60(b) motion is a prohibited "second or successive" petition as a matter of law. The ABA has merit briefs in the case.

The US Senate [official website] convenes at 9:30 AM ET today, when it resume consideration of H.R. 3 [bill summary], the Highway bill. Watch a live webcast of the session. The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] Intellectual Property Subcommittee is holding a hearing at 1:30 PM ET today on the patent system. Watch a live webcast of the hearing.

The US House [official website] convenes at Noon ET today for a pro forma session. Watch a live webcast of the session.

The Center for American Progress [advocacy website] is holding a forum in support of retaining the filibuster in the Senate at 9:30 AM ET today, with WV Sen. Robert C. Byrd [official website] to speak. Watch a live webcast of the event via C-SPAN 2.

The Cato Institute [official website] is holding a forum titled "In Defense of an Independent Judiciary" at Noon ET today. Watch a live webcast of the event.

At the European Union [official website], Bulgaria and Romania will sign the accession treaty to the EU at 5 PM local time [11 AM ET], with speeches by ministers from each party. A press conference will follow the signing. Watch a live webcast of the ceremony.

The Second European Conference of Judges [official website], which will cover justice and the media, begins today in Cracow, Poland. View the agenda [PDF text] of the conference.

The UN Security Council [official website] convenes at 10 AM ET today, when it will be briefed on counter-terrorism issues. Watch a live webcast of the session.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder] continues at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET] today. A pre-trial conference will be held for Beqa Beqaj [indictment] at 2:45 PM local time [8:45 AM ET] followed by the start of the trial. Watch a webcast of proceedings.

Today is the last docket for the semester as the University of Pittsburgh School of Law begins its exam period and summer break. Regular docket posts will resume when the school returns for the fall semester at the end of August. During the summer, up-to-date information on live webcasts will be available from the Live Webcast section of JURIST's Home Page.