[JURIST] Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [official website] on Thursday offered Democrats a compromise [Frist press release] over judicial nominees that would allow appellate court nominations to be voted on but would retain the filibuster for district court nominees. Under the offer, the Senate would be limited to 100 hours of debate on appeals court judicial nominees before they would be confirmed, and nominations would no longer be subject to being blocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website]. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [official website] said he would consider the offer, although he did not seem favorable to it. Reid made an offer earlier this week that would have allowed certain nominations but not others to proceed, but it was rejected by Frist [JURIST report]. Democrats filibustered 10 of President Bush's appeals court nominees, and they have threatened to again block the seven of those that Bush renominated as well as future nominees that they view as too extreme. The Senate standoff over judicial nominations [JURIST news archive] has escalated in the past week after several of those nominees were approved in committee [JURIST report] and are now pending before the full Senate. AP has more.

[JURIST] A UK businessman was convicted on Wednesday of attempting to aid terrorists for selling a missile launcher to an informant claiming he was going to attack the US. Hemant Lakhani, a British citizen from India, was found guilty on five charges, including attempting to provide material support to terrorists and illegal arms sales. He was arrested in August 2003 [CBS News report] following a two-year sting operation. Prosecutors used video and audiotapes of conversations Lakhani had with an informant, in which he spoke admiringly of Osama bin Laden and boasted about the destructive force of the missile launcher he was trying to sell. Read a US Attorney's press release on the conviction and the criminal complaint [PDF text] against Lakhani. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] As briefly reported on JURIST Wednesday evening, the US House [official website] late Wednesday voted to reverse GOP ethics rules on investigating House members that had divided the House Ethics Committee [official website] since the rules were approved in December 2004. By a 406-20 vote [House roll call], lawmakers approved H.Res. 241 [bill summary], which returns ethics rules to the form they have been in since 1997. The Committee is also expected to begin an investigation into Majority Leader Tom Delay's foreign travel. Delay repeated an earlier request to appear before the Committee to defend himself against allegations that he violated ethics rules by having a foreign trip paid for by a lobbyist and clients. The rules dispute has effectively brought the evenly divided Ethics Committee to a halt in the past several months. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK House of Lords [official website] on Thursday upheld an appeals court ruling [BBC News report] that the creation of "designer babies" to treat siblings with genetic disorders was allowed. Five law lords unanimously ruled that the Human and Fertilization and Embryology Authority [official website] could allow tissue typing treatment. The decision stemmed from a 2003 case in which the parents of a six-year-old with the fatal genetic disorder beta thalassaemia major sought to have another baby with the same tissue type that could help treat the child with blood transfusions. An advocacy group, Comment on Reproductive Ethics [advocacy website], sought to stop the government from authorizing such procedures. Read the Lords' full opinion. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The US Army [official website] is planning to issue a revised interrogations manual that will expressly limit techniques used at Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] that drew outrage when publicly revealed. Army officials on Wednesday said that the new manual, the first revision in 13 years, prohibits stripping prisoners, forcing them to remain in stress positions, imposing dietary restrictions, or using dogs or sleep deprivation to intimidate them. The new rules also include safeguards that are designed to prevent future misconduct from occurring at military prison camps, as well as specific examples of interrogation scenarios. The manual does not govern interrogations by other authorities, such as the CIA, but it does expressly prohibit the CIA from holding unreported "ghost" detainees at Army facilities. The New York Times has more [free registration required].

[JURIST] Food services corporation Sodexho [corporate website] has agreed to an $80 million settlement with thousands of black employees [class action website] who had sued the company claiming they were routinely discriminated against. The settlement, reached Wednesday, requires Sodexho to undertake certain steps to improve diversity in its ranks, including promotion incentives and training programs. The two sides reached agreement at the last minute, with jury selection scheduled to begin Thursday. The class action was filed in 2001 by midlevel black managers who said they had been routinely skipped over for promotions into upper management. The settlement will mean payouts for the 10 lead plaintiffs and as many as 3,000 other workers with the company between 1998 and 2004. Read a Sodexho press release announcing the settlement, and Sodexho more on the discrimination lawsuit. AP has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi lawmakers have approved a partial Cabinet for the country's interim government after months of delay over the final list. Incoming Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari [Wikipedia profile] submitted a list that included 27 ministers and 5 acting ministers, which received overwhelming approval Wednesday from the interim National Assembly. The Cabinet includes members of primary Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties in Iraq [JURIST news archive]. However, the two deputy prime minister posts and several key ministerial positions remain in dispute, with acting ministers included on the list approved by the Assembly. Al-Jaafari will also serve as acting defense minister on the current Cabinet. Iraq's newly elected officials have struggled to reach agreement on a government in the time since the Jan. 30 elections [JURIST news archive]. Shiite and Kurdish leaders, who won a majority of votes in the election, have differed over how to divide power and still include Sunni politicians to ensure a stable government. The interim government is supposed to draft an Iraqi constitution [JURIST news archive] by August. A handover between al-Jaafari and current Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is expected within days. AP has more.

[JURIST] A day after the BBC published a leaked document [JURIST report] appearing to contain part of the UK Attorney General's advice to the Prime Minister on the legality of the Iraq war, 10 Downing Street Thursday released [statement] the full text of the advice, dated March 7, 2003. In the document the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, indicated that the war could be considered legal for the United Kingdom, but in light of a number of reservations he also said that that the safest course would be to obtain a second UN Security Council resolution directly authorizing the use of force against Iraq. A one-page document of advice later passed on to the Cabinet and Parliament did not contain this language, nor a mention of reservations. Read the full text of the legal advice [PDF]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Mexican President Vicente Fox announced in a nationwide TV broadcast [official transcript in Spanish; recorded video] Wednesday night that he had accepted the resignation of Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo De La Concha. De La Concha had been at the forefront of efforts to prosecute popular Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [advocacy website] for contempt, strip him of political immunity, and sideline his candidacy in the country's 2006 presidential elections. While the Mexican Congress removed Obrador's immunity, the charges against him have proved legally problematic {JURIST report], and last weekend hundreds of thousands of Obrador supporters demonstrated in his favor in Mexico City. Fox, who is not running for re-election next year, promised that the presidential vote would be free and fair and that candidates from all parties would be able to run. Polls currently show Obrador as the frontrunner. VOA has more.

[JURIST] The United States Wednesday formally indicated its opposition to the reappointment of International Atomic Energy Agency [official website] head Mohamed ElBaradei [official profile] to a third term, citing his stances on Iran's nuclear program and nuclear inspections in Iraq prior to the March 2003 war. In the wake of the US announcement the IAEA Board decided to postpone its vote on the reappointment until June in the interests of avoiding a showdown over the issue. The US appears to be the only member of the 35 nation body opposed to ElBaradei [JURIST report], but US diplomats say that the delay gives them time to solicit additional support to block his candidacy. At this stage the US has not been able to find another candidate to put forward as a replacement. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives passed a bill late Wednesday that would make it illegal to take minors across the state lines for abortions. The option is seen as a way of getting around parental consent laws legislated in some states. Although HR 748, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act [PDF text] passed 270-157 [House roll call] with 54 Democrats supporting it, many Democrats see the measure as another Republican restriction on abortion rights. Two similar bills have been passed by the House since 1998, but the present legislation is thought to have a better chance of succeeding in the Senate as it is on the Senate GOP leadership's "top 10" list of priorities and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has promised to bring it to a vote. AP has more.