[JURIST] Leading Friday's corporations and securities news, the White House Friday formally filed papers with the Senate for the nomination of Congressman Christopher Cox [official profile] as new Chairman of the SEC. Cox, a Republican from California, was informally tabbed [JURIST report] early last month. The filing follows former SEC Chairman William Donaldson's formal resignation [JURIST report] yesterday. Cox's remarks at the earlier White House announcement in June are available. AP has more.

In other corporations and securities news...

• The SEC has sued online auto-trader Terry's Tips [corporate website] for misleading performance projections. In a press release, the SEC said that Terry's Tips has boasted 100% annual returns while its accounts have actually taken heavy losses. The SEC also warned investors to be careful using auto-trading firms. Auto-trading is a relatively new practice where investors give advisors, such as Terry's Tips, permission to control the investors' brokerage accounts. Reuters has more.
  
  
• As reported earlier on JURISTS's Paper Chase, Microsoft has agreed to pay IBM $775 million to settle a long-running lawsuit. The settlement resolves most of IBM's antitrust claims against Microsoft and prohibits IBM from bringing any other claims for two years. In a joint press release, the companies said they look forward to cooperating and competing in the future. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's states brief, a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling [PDF text] today expanded the number of civil penalties which properly belong to school districts under the state constitution [text]. The court upheld most of a 2003 court of appeals decision [text] and expanded the list of civil penalties that should benefit public education to include late and underpayment penalties on taxpayers assessed by the Department of Revenue and penalties for overweight vehicles generated by the Department of Transportation. Those two penalties together are expected to generate between $53.5 million and $73.5 million annually. Criminal fines already go to local school districts. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• The North Carolina Supreme Court also ruled Friday that the North Carolina Utilities Commission [official website] has the authority to monitor wholesale energy sales. The opinion [text] overruled a court of appeals decision by finding the Federal Power Act [LII text] does not prevent state regulators from conducting a pre-sale review of deals with wholesale customers, but it instead intends for state regulators to retain their authority to assure power plants have enough capability to server customers. Two dissenters disagreed, saying Congress exclusively entrusted wholesale interstate electricity contracts to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [official website]. AP has more.
  
  
• The state of Alabama is asking the Alabama Supreme Court [official website] to uphold a $3.5 billion dollar judgment against Exxon Mobil Corporation [corporate website] in response to Exxon's request in May [Exxon press release] for the Supreme Court to throw out the judgment because it was not based on facts and was unconstitutionally excessive. State attorneys said Friday that while the punitive damages award is virtually unprecedented "so is the scale of the wrong to be punished and the wrongdoer." In 2003, a jury awarded the state $102.8 million in compensatory damages and $11.8 billion in punitive damages after deciding the company cheated the state out of royalties from natural gas wells. The trial judge reduced the punitive damage award to $3.5 billion. AP has more.
  
  
• The California Supreme Court has ruled patrons who are mugged or assaulted in business parking lots may sue the business owners for failing to take reasonable steps to protect them. The rulings in two companion cases, Delgado v. Trax Bar and Grill [PDF text] and Morris v. De La Torre [PDF text], expanded an assaulted patron's ability to sue as past rulings allowed suits for failing to take adequate safety measures only when the attacks were foreseeable because of past experience and similar incidents. The Supreme Court's ruling Thursday eliminates the requirement of foreseeability. AP has more.

[JURIST] For the first time Friday, a senior American military official publicly confirmed [DOD transcript] abuse of detainees and prisoners by Iraqi security forces. Major General David Rodriguez said in a briefing for Pentagon reporters from Iraq that in the last six to eight weeks there have been approximately forty cases of detainee abuse and that US troops have been instructed to intervene immediately if they witness mistreatment. He described the incidents as physical abuse, especially during interrogations, but "they have not been anything that came close to killing anybody." General Rodriguez said a human rights advisor has begun inspecting the detention facilities used by Iraqi security forces. US military documents had previously indicated that some Iraqi personnel were abusing prisoners [JURIST report], a practice that their US counterparts were reportedly anxious to stop because of the damage it could do to the image of local forces. AP has more.

[JURIST] The former head of investment banking at Merrill Lynch [corporate website] who was convicted last year in connection with Enron's bogus sale of power barges, will report to a low security federal prison in Hopewell, Virginia [prison website] on July 14 to serve his two and a half year sentence [JURIST report], a judge ruled Friday. Daniel Bayly will be the first of four convicted former Merrill executives to serve time. US District Judge Ewing Werlein denied a request that he remain free on bond pending the appeal of his conviction for conspiracy and fraud. One of Bayly's co-defendants, James A. Brown, will report to prison on August 12. Two other defendants were sentenced in May but have not yet received surrender orders. AP has more.

[JURIST] Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi [Wikipedia profile] promised Friday that an investigation into allegations of fraud in the May 15 election, which left Zenawi in power, would be "totally transparent and fair." Zenawi said the investigation, which includes international observers, shows his Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) [Wikipedia profile] is committed to fairness. Police killed 36 people and arrested thousands more [JURIST report] when street demonstrations and violence erupted following the elections. Zenawi defended the crackdown on protestors, who were defying an order banning public demonstrations. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Turkish parliament [official website, in Turkish] has re-approved amendments to the country's new European Union oriented penal code, overriding an earlier veto [JURIST report] by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer [official profile]. The new code includes the first major changes to Turkish law in 79 years and is intended to liberalize that law in order to help the nation's chances of joining the EU. Sezer had objected to certain provisions of the code, arguing they violated the nation's secular principles by reducing punishments for running religious courses without government authorization. The law also increases the rights of women and children, criminalizes marital rape and sexual harassment and toughens punishments for rape, pedophilia, human trafficking and torture. Sezer must now approve the law as it stands, but he can still send it to the Constitutional Court [official website] for cancellation. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] Leading Friday's international brief, the UN Security Council [official website] discussed the worsening housing crisis in Zimbabwe during Thursday's session, with several members expressing their reluctance to consider the issue. The British and acting US ambassadors to the UN both expressed concern with the fallout from "Operation Restore Order", which has resulted in over 46,000 arrests of illegal merchants and others and somewhere between 330,000 and one million individuals left homeless. While several members of the Council expressed concern about the circumstances, others said they considered the actions of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [Wikipedia profile] to be internal matters and outside the purview of international peace and security granted the Security Council. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. ZimOnline has local coverage.

In related news, UN Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka [official profile], Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme [official website], has announced the completion of her report on the status of the mass evictions. Tibaijuka was appointed [JURIST report] by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan earlier this month to conduct an investigation into the situation and report back to him. Tibaijuka has not released the details of her report, but did comment that the Zimbabwe government could have taken steps to lessen human suffering and misery in the pursuit of its urban development program. BBC News has more.

In other international legal news ...

• The Royal Nepalese Army [official website] announced Friday that it is establishing six regional committees to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by Army personnel. RNA Spokesman Brigadier General Deepak Gurung announced the creation of the investigatory committees at RNA Headquarters and told reporters that the several of the committees had already begun to conduct investigations into allegations concerning human rights abuses, particularly against rebel Moaist forces. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. Kantipur Online has more.
  
  
• The Final Immigration Regulations Act of South Africa went into effect Friday, including several provisions that will tighten restrictions on obtaining South African residency through marriage. The Ministry of Home Affairs designed the regulations to require five years of marriage before a non-South African could obtain permanent residency. The provision is designed to cut down on fraudulent marriages recently plaguing the South African courts. The Final Immigration Regulations Act also includes provisions to ease travel restrictions on students, including eliminating the deposit normally required for African students. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of South Africa [JURIST news archive]. South Africa's News 24 has local coverage.

[JURIST] A French court has sentenced Mauritanian Ely Ould Dah to 10 years in prison for torturing military officers abroad. Dah, a high ranking military officer in Mauritania, was sentenced in absentia Friday for torturing military officers in his home country [Amnesty International report]. The trial marks the first time a French court [JURIST report] has used the doctrine of "universal jurisdiction" [Wikipedia backgrounder] - allowing foreigners to be tried for acts committed anywhere. The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has compiled a dossier on the proceeding [PDF]. UPI has more.

[JURIST] At a parliamentary hearing on relief efforts, Indonesian lawmakers Friday assailed the government's response to the December 26 tsunami [JURIST news archive], arguing there had been no "significant progress" and demanding a response to claims of corruption. Six months after the disaster, 500,000 people remain homeless and few homes have been rebuilt. Some $162.2 million has disappeared [AAP report] from the $5 billion reconstruction program. The Aceh Emergency Commission aid group has accused regional government officials of padding the number of refugees in their districts to claim more money from relief funds. Indonesian Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah [Jakarta Post profile] said if "people have done this, then the police should arrest them." Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of Aceh's newly established reconstruction agency, has hired two international accounting firms to monitor aid funds and prevent corruption. AP has more.

[JURIST] In the wake of a June 6 state court ruling [JURIST report] that upheld the November 2004 election of Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire [official website], the Washington State Republican Party [official website] Friday paid the state Democrats $15,000 to cover court costs relating to legal challenges. Democrats had requested $48,000 and said they spent nearly $3.5 million in legal fees, but the two sides agreed on the $15,000 sum. Gregorie won the election by 129 votes over Republican Dino Rossi [campaign profile]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi [official profile] took the remarkable step Friday of demanding in an official statement [in Italian] delivered to summoned US ambassador Mel Sembler that the US government exhibit "full respect" for Italian sovereignty in the wake of a controversy over the alleged 2003 CIA abduction of an Islamic cleric in Milan [Washington Post report]. Sembler provided assurances that US respect towards Italy was "full and total." Pursuant to an Italian court order arrest warrants have been issued [JURIST report] for 13 CIA agents over the alleged kidnapping of Abu Omar, an imam already being watched by Italian authorities as part of a terrorism investigation. Italian prosecutors believe the operation was part of a controversial US anti-terror policy known as "extraordinary rendition," in which suspects are moved to third countries without permission. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Software giant Microsoft [corporate website] has agreed to pay [IBM press release] IBM [corporate website] $775 million to resolve claims stemming from the antitrust lawsuit brought by the US government in the late 1990s. As part of the agreement IBM agreed not to file any other claims for two years. Microsoft [JURIST news archive] which has agreed to pay nearly $4 billion to end antitrust claims brought by customers and rival companies, will also extend $75 million in credit towards facilitating the use of Microsoft programs. Microsoft still faces lawsuits from RealNetworks Inc. [RealNetworks press release], which makes a program that competes with Windows Media Player. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting tha President Bush will not pick a US Supreme Court nominee to replace retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor before he returns from the G8 summit in Europe July 8, according to the White House.

[JURIST] The UN is planning to send an investigator to Japan next week to look into charges of racism and discrimination against ethnic minority groups in the country, including ethnic Koreans and Chinese, according to a statement by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] released Friday. Senegalese lawyer Doudou Diene, the UN special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, will also probe discrimination against migrant workers, refugees and those seeking asylum in Japan. Diene will report his findings at the next UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in March 2006. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] More than 100 congressmen on Thursday backed a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would protect more religious expression on public property. The steps are being taken to reverse the holding in McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky [opinion; JURIST report] in which the US Supreme Court ruled that the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed in courthouses. Representative Ernest Istook (R-OK) [official website] and Sanford Bishop (D-GA) announced [press release] the so-called Religious Freedom Amendment, backed by 104 Republicans and 5 Democrats in the House, reading as follows:

To secure the people's right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience:

--The people retain the right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including schools.
--The United States and the States shall not establish any official religion nor require any person to join in prayer or religious activity

[JURIST] Carrying out his May threat to take over the California prison health care system [JURIST report], US District Judge Thelton Henderson said Thursday he will appoint an independent overseer for the medical facilities. The appointment is expected to take place at a hearing on July 8, along with a limitation of scope and duration for the oversight. An attempt by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [official website] to reorganize the prison system and designed to concentrate power and responsibility into the hands of California Youth and Adult Corrections Secretary Roderick Hickman also takes effect Friday. Hickman welcomed the judge's decision, stating that he hoped that it would provide "a sustainable solution" to problems within the system. AP has more.

[JURIST] US District Judge Karen Schreier Thursday granted a preliminary injunction blocking a controversial South Dakota law [text] passed in March [JURIST report] requiring abortion doctors to tell women that abortion ends the lives of "human beings", or face 30 days of jail time and a $200 fine. According to the judge, plaintiffs Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota [advocacy website] showed they had a good chance of prevailing over the state in court. According to the judge, the law's limitation on doctors' ability to express views opposed to the state's may be an unconstitutional violation of doctors' free speech. State lawyers defended the law, arguing the requirement is medically accurate and supported by science. A hearing on Planned Parenthood's request for a permanent injunction is set for October. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that Sandra Day O'Connor [Wikipedia profile], first woman justice on the US Supreme Court, has announced her plans to retire [SCOTUSblog post]. Read the text of Justice O'Connor's letter of resignation [via SCOTUSblog] addressed to President Bush. The Washington Post has more.

Read this retrospective [Findlaw column] from 2001 on Justice O'Connor's Supreme Court career on the occasion of her 20th year of service.

10:58 AM ET - President Bush is expected to speak on the retirement of Justice O'Connor at 11:15 AM ET. Watch his remarks live [via AP].

11:17 AM ET - President Bush has called for a "dignified" confirmation process for O'Connor's successor, and says that he expects the nomination and confirmation of that successor to be completed before the beginning of the new Supreme Court term in October.

11:25 AM ET - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has issued a press release on O'Connor's retirement, saying:

America needs judges who are fair, independent, unbiased and committed to equal justice under the law. I’m confident that the president will select a qualified replacement justice who embodies these qualities. I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure a fair confirmation process in the Senate that will ensure the Supreme Court is at full strength to start its next term in October.

The stakes are high for all Americans. Consideration of Supreme Court nominations is one of the most important responsibilities of the Senate. I renew my call to the President to consult with Members of the Senate from both sides of the aisle as he makes his decision about a nominee. There is a rich history and tradition of consultation between the President and the Senate on Supreme Court nominees. I hope that the President will honor not only Justice O’Connor’s record of service, but also her judicial independence, by respecting that tradition of meaningful consultation and in finding a nominee who will unite and not further divide the Nation.

[JURIST] Ukrainian authorities said Thursday that they have discovered who was behind the assassination attempt by poisoning directed at President Viktor Yushchenko [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] and have traced the substance used in the plot to a facility housing banned chemical weapons. Yushchenko, who won the disputed presidential election [JURIST report] in Ukraine last year which put hundreds of thousands in the streets of Kiev and threatened to split the country, said in an interview that the poison had been used by the Soviet security services to kill others in the past and added that he was proud to have overcome the poison's effects, which drastically altered his appearance during the election. Yushchenko also said that new information had come to light about those responsible for the poisoning and that he was confident that the guilty parties would be brought to justice. The London Telegraph has more.

[JURIST] Three more people were reported dead Thursday as a result of "Operation Drive Out Trash" or "Operation Restore Order", [JURIST report] Zimbabwe's controversial 6-week government demolition and squatter resettlement plan, when police swept through an illegal settlement west of the capital Harare. According to the Director of Amnesty International's Africa Program Kolawole Olaniyan, Porta Farm [SDI backgrounder], an informal settlement of at least 10,000 people established by the government more than 10 years ago, has been razed [AI press release], with many residents being forcibly removed by trucks. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights [advocacy website] say that the dead included a pregnant woman who fell off a truck and a four year old boy who was run over. A UN special envoy is currently in Zimbabwe to investigate the government campaign, which has resulted in over 46,000 arrests [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Of the 15 Sunni Muslims joining members of the committee to construct Iraq's new constitution [JURIST news archive], two are accused of being former senior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party [Wikipedia backgrounder] while two others have indicated that they supported it, according to a report in Friday's New York Times. The new constitution, which, by law, the committee must write by August 15, 2005 [JURIST report] or seek an extension, is already facing problems over Kurdish autonomy and the role of Islam in the document. Of the two Sunnis accused of being former party members, Mijbel Sheik Isa denies ever being a member of the party and claims the other man, Hasseb Aref, while once a member, never held a senior position. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The European Commission on Thursday published a proposal [PDF text] to create a European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights [press release]. The proposal comes in the wake of an Amnesty International report [PDF text] urging Great Britain's incoming EU Presidency [official website] to make fundamental rights a key issue in the EU agenda in the second half of 2005. The independent agency, designed to complement the work of the Council of Europe [official website], would gather information, issue annual reports and give advice to the EU and member states on legislative proposals. The agency would not have the power to review individual cases. Euractiv has more.

[JURIST] Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir announced in a national broadcast Thursday a plan to end the country's 16-year state of emergency [Wikipedia backgrounder] by July 9. According to el-Brashir, the adoption of a new constitution and transitional government, following the January adoption of a peace treaty [BBC report] ending the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan, will end the state of emergency. The plan, however, will not include the state of emergency in Darfur [JURIST archive; Wikipedia entry], which the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis prior to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, or the eastern Red Sea and Kassala states, which have occasionally been the sites of anti-government protests and violence. The announcement was accompanied by the release of political prisoners, including Hassan Turabi, an Islamic ideologue once prominent in the el-Brashir's regime, but detained in 2004 for an alleged coup plot. AP has more.

[JURIST] In a White House interview with Danish television [recorded video via DR] that aired Thursday, US President George W. Bush said that agreeing to the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol [text] on climate change would have "wrecked" the US economy. Bush noted that other "big polluters" like India and China have also refused to accept the treaty's terms. AP has more. Meanwhile British Prime Minister Tony Blair [official website], who plans to discuss issues related to greenhouse gas emissions at the upcoming G8 meeting [official website], has said that the US cannot be persuaded to accept the Kyoto treaty conditions. As G8 host and chair, Blair is debating whether to release a final statement at the summit that excludes the US on environmental issues. The move would be politically risky but it might coax the US into more extended debate about greenhouse gas emissions. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] France applied the controversial doctrine of "universal jurisdiction" [Wikipedia backgrounder] that allows states to claim criminal jurisdiction over persons accused of committing crimes abroad for the first time Thursday in the trial of a Mauritanian military officer. Ely Ould Dah is accused of torturing black Mauritanian army personnel [Amnesty International report] in Jreida prison in 1990 and 1991. He was arrested in France in 1999, fled while on bail in 2000, then was indicted in July 2002 [press release] for acts of torture. He was not present when his trial commenced. Aljazeera has more. The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has compiled a dossier on the proceeding [PDF] and provides case updates [in French].

[JURIST] Nigeria's Supreme Court Friday turned back a challenge to the legitimacy of the 2003 election victory of President Olusegun Obasanjo [Wikipedia profile; official website], affirming a lower court ruling and putting an end to a lawsuit over alleged vote rigging. The legal challenge was spearheaded by former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari [Wikipedia profile] who claimed that at least 16 of Nigeria's 36 states were marred by fraudulent voting. In upholding the 2003 result, Nigeria's Chief Justice Muhammadu Uwais was adamant that "the election was conducted substantially in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act." Reuters has more.