[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law brief, Warren Buffett [Wikipedia profile] company Berkshire Hathaway has revealed that the management company is being investigated by the SEC and the state of New York, among others. In a filing [text] with the SEC, the company said that the government has been investigating Berkshire's activities related to its accounting practices and involvement in the re-insurance industry since January. Though it was known that there have been government investigations of several of Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries involved in re-insurance [CNN report], this is the first public acknowledgement that Berkshire Hathaway was itself being investigated. The filing also said much of the investigation involves a transaction with AIG in 2000 [JURIST report]. Bloomberg has more.

In other corporations and securities law news...

• The European Commission [official website] Monday approved Hong Kong-based TPV Technology's purchase of Dutch Royal Philips Electronics' television and monitor business. In a press release the commission said, "Although the parties' combined market share is ahead of that of competitors, TPV and Philips Monitors will continue to face strong competition post merger." The $350 million purchase makes TPV the world's largest monitor producer. Xinhua has more.
  
  
• The SEC has filed suit against two former Citigroup [corporate website] executives in federal court. The government alleges that Thomas W. Jones and Lewis E. Daidone fraudulently diverted money towards the bank and away from investors. In a press release, the SEC accuses the former executives of orchestrating the fraud. The SEC also said that this action follows the agency's $208 million settlement with Citigroup in May [SEC release] over the same incident. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's states brief, the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request [PDF text] to suspend an Iowa state law that prohibits certain sex offenders from living within 2000 feet of a school or day care center, pending a possible US Supreme Court review. The court said that the Iowa Civil Liberties Union [website], which filed the suit on behalf of over a dozen sex offenders, has not "demonstrated a particularly strong probability" that the US Supreme Court will review the law. In April, the Eighth Circuit ruled [PDF text] that the law was constitutional, and the Iowa Supreme Court also found the law constitutional [JURIST report] in July. Iowa's Gazette Online has local coverage.

In other state legal news ...

• Illinois Governor Rod. R. Blagojevich today signed [Governor's press release] legislation eliminating the state's statute of limitations for the prosecution of hit-and-run accidents. The law [text] eliminates the current three-year statute of limitations for the prosecution of cases involving drivers who leave the scene of an accident or fail to give information or aid following a car crash that results in death, personal injury or damage to an attended vehicle. The law takes effect on January 1.
  
  
• The Mississippi Supreme Court has ruled that Governor Haley Barbour [official website] may proceed this year with his lawsuit against the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi [website], which receives $20 million per year from the state's tobacco settlement. The private Partnership was founded by former Attorney General Mike Moore and in 2000 a Jackson County Court ordered that $20 million of the state's settlement go to the non-profit Partnership each year. Barbour, the Division of Medicaid [official website], and the Mississippi Health Care Trust Fund filed suit, alleging that the money the Partnership receives from the settlement is unconstitutional. The ruling reversed a lower court decision that ordered the challenge postponed 1 year so the Legislature could hold hearings and study the issue. Read the state's 2003 Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review's report on the legality of the 2000 court ordered payments here. AP has more.
  
  
• Washington Initiative 912 [PDF text], which seeks to overturn the state legislature's gas-tax hike of 9.5 cents a gallon over the next four years, has qualified for November's statewide ballot. Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed announced [Washington Secretary of State news release] that the ballot sponsors easily had the required 224,880 minimum votes for a ballot spot. The tax increase is the main source of revenue for a 16-year, $8.5 billion transportation program for several large state projects. AP has more.

[JURIST] Argentinian police announced on Monday the arrest of Milan Lukic, a former Bosnian Serb paramilitary commander who in July was convicted in absentia [JURIST report] by a Serbian war crimes court and sentenced to 20 years for his role in the 1993 abduction and killing of 20 Bosnian Muslims. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [JURIST news archive] indicted him along with Sredoje Lukic and Mitar Vasiljevic [indictment text] for their alleged roles in various war crimes. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A new Florida policy that took effect on June 1 bans sex offenders [FDLE Sex Offenders and Predators website] from public hurricane shelters [list, by county] if they are under state supervision and not permitted near children. Instead, they must report to a prison, where they are kept under supervision by authorities though not incarcerated. Six offenders reported to a prison during Hurricane Dennis in July and the number is expected to increase [Miami Herald report] as peak hurricane season arrives. AP has more.

[JURIST] According to US military leaders, the Pentagon has established new contingency plans for domestic military deployment in the event of a terrorist attack, but the procedures may challenge traditional doctrines constraining military roles in national law enforcement. The plans envisage US military forces under the aegis of the new US Northern Command [official website] engaging in a range of domestic activities from crowd control to full-scale disaster management in response to as many as three major terror attacks on the US homeland at the same time. Last month the US Department of Defense also approved a new Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support [PDF text] that dealt largely with National Guard response to such attacks. That move likewise raised legal questions [JURIST report] about the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act [text] which prohibits federal troops [Wikipedia backgrounder] from being deployed as law enforcement officers in the US. The Pentagon has until recently avoided making plans for domestic response, but still continues to reiterate that it sees troops as performing mostly supporting roles. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] An civil liberties oversight panel created by Congress last year in response to a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission [official website] has yet to meet almost eight months after its inception. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board [CRS backgrounder, PDF] was created as part of an intelligence reform law [PDF] passed in December 2004 [JURIST report]. But after a six-month delay, President Bush has nominated [ABA report] only five members [White House press release]. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) [official website] says the board is "not a priority for the administration". Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the 9/11 Commission has also criticized the board as being "watered-down" and lacking "credibility and authority". Congress has already doubled the amount of money earmarked for the board from the White House's $750,000 to $1.5 million. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A new report released Monday by a UN panel accused Benon Sevan [UN profile], the former head of the UN Oil-for-Food Program [official website; JURIST news archive], of taking almost $150,000 in bribes. The Third Interim Report [PDF text; press release] by the Independent Inquiry Committee [official website] also urged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to lift Sevan's UN-granted immunity for the "purposes of a criminal investigation". Sevan resigned on Sunday [JURIST report] from an honorary position at the UN despite denying the charges. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] President George W. Bush Monday signed into law a massive energy bill while in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The 1,725-page legislation [text], finalized after weeks of compromise between the US House [JURIST report] and Senate [JURIST report], provides $14.5 billion in energy tax breaks, mostly to companies who deal in traditional sources of energy. It also provides funds for promoting renewable energy sources and creating new technologies, measures to aid the nuclear power industry and a provision effective 2007 to extend daylight savings time by one month (starting it three weeks early on the second Sunday in March, and extending it by one extra week to the first Sunday in November). Bush said the bill will not "solve our energy challenges overnight," but added that it "launches an energy strategy for the 21st century" and promotes finding new sources of energy to power the country. Read a transcript of the President's remarks at the bill-signing and a White House factsheet on the legislation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The family of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] said in a statement Monday that they have granted Khalil Dulaimi, an Iraqi lawyer already serving on his defense team, the exclusive right to represent the deposed Iraqi president, dissolving his earlier Jordan-based legal team. Dulaimi previously demanded that the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) punish a man for an alleged assault [JURIST report] on Hussein that took place at a hearing. Both the tribunal and the US deny such an incident occurred. No elaboration on the reasons for Dulaimi's selection was given in the statement disbanding the original legal team [AP report] which included former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. BBC News has more.

In another development in the Saddam proceedings Monday, IST Judge Munir Hadad told Arabic television reporters that the trial of the former dictator will begin within two months. Hussein will be tried with a number of crimes, the first of which will be a case that centers on the 1982 execution of 150 Shiite men and youths in the town of Dujail [CBS news overview]. The incident occurred after Hussein escaped an assassination attempt in the village, and is expected to be a relatively easy win for prosecutors in light of pending genocide charges. If convicted, Hussein could face the death penalty. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Muktar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammed and Yassin Hassan Omar, three of the primary suspects in the failed July 21 London bombings [JURIST news archive] appeared in court on Monday after being charged [JURIST report] with attempted murder, conspiracy to murder and possessing or making explosives. Each suspect faces a maximum of life in prison for each charge. They were ordered held until another proceeding on November 14. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] An extradition treaty between Pakistan and Britain is in the "final stages", according to a spokesman for the Pakistani government. The official declined to elaborate on how many wanted persons may be traded between the two countries after the treaty is finalized. No such formal agreement between the two countries presently exists, but previous informal arrangements have resulted in extraditions. The treaty is also designed to facilitate travel between the UK and Pakistan by legal residents and bolster anti-terrorism initiatives in the UK [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Japan's House of Concilors [official website, English version], the upper house of the Japanese parliament, voted 125-108 Monday to defeat a plan by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [Wikipedia profile; official website, English version] to privatize the nation's postal service [official website], Thirty members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party [political party website] either voted against or failed to vote on the plan. Koizumi, keeping to an earlier promise, called for elections following the defeat, pitting himself against rival Katsuya Okada of the Democratic Party of Japan [Wikipedia backgrounder; political party website, English version]]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Former UK Home Secretary David Blunkett [Wikipedia profile] lined up over the weekend behind British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his new proposals for changing Britain's anti-terrorism laws [JURIST report], saying that parliament, not the courts, should be primarily responsible for protecting the security of the country:

If the judiciary say 'We think that parliament was wrong and therefore the democratic vote is wrong'. . .We obviously have the right to go back to parliament and to say 'We, the sovereign body who are elected, are the only ones in the end who are answerable for the protection of security and stability in our country. We will make the decision'.

[JURIST] A Yemeni court on Monday sentenced six men to jail for planning to blow up the British and Italian embassies and the French cultural center in Sanaa. The six men, believed to be members of al Qaeda, received sentences of three months to four years in prison. Two other men were acquitted. Yemen has captured and sentenced several al Qaeda followers in the years since the September 11 attacks, including those behind the USS Cole attack [JURIST report] and the 2002 attack on a French supertanker [BBC report]. RTE has more.

[JURIST] Noaman Gomaa, a law professor who is one of two top challengers to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [Wikipedia profile] in Egypt's upcoming September elections [JURIST report], promised Sunday to repeal Egypt's controversial emergency law [EOHR backgrounder] and release political prisoners if elected. The law was passed in 1981 after the assassination of Anwar Sadat and has drawn complaints from rights groups and citizens that they are abused to limit political freedom. However, Gomaa stopped short of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood [backgrounder], a banned group that has had a problematic relationship with authorities [JURIST report]. Gomaa instead backed the current government policy towards the group by requiring them to either support independent candidates or ally themselves with another party rather than stand in elections. Its independent candidates have won 15 seats in the 454-member parliament. AP has more.

[JURIST] Officials in Qatar on Monday launched a new human rights department which will function as a branch of the country's Interior Ministry [official website, English version]. The department will work closely with the National Human Rights Committee, a state-financed human rights watchdog, as well as other embassies, the labor department, the ministry of civil services affairs and the ministry of justice to address cases of human rights violations [US State Department backgrounder], including detentions without trials and illegal arrests. There has also been a push to close a deportation center that operates as a temporary prison where expatriates are held while a court decides their cases. AKI has more.

[JURIST] After Iraq accused Kuwait last week of encroaching on Iraqi terroritory and even stealing Iraqi oil [JURIST report], an Iraqi official said Monday that inspections showed no border violations being committed. Khaled al-Atiyah, who headed the inspection as an envoy to Kuwait, instead detailed a few Iraqi encroachments of "no more than a few meters". Atiyah said no future action is planned since the UN has already established a border [Kuwait Info backgrounder], but some Iraqis still oppose a metal barrier that Kuwait is constructing [ArabicNews report] to replace a 10-foot sand mound currently marking the boundary. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The so-called G-4 plan [JURIST news archive] for expansion of the UN Security Council [official website] now appears likely to fail as talks with the African Union to back the plan have broken down. Japan, Brazil, Germany and India along with the African Union had originally agreed to submit a single plan, but the African Union's efforts to agree on details [JURIST report] of its own plan failed late last week. Even if a plan could still be crafted that would win 2/3 support from the 191-member General Assembly, both the US and China have said they intend to block any such expansion [JURIST report] with their veto power as permanent members. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [Wikipedia profile] welcomed a diverse group of leaders to his Baghdad residence on Sunday in an effort to sort out the remaining stumbling blocks [JURIST report] in the Iraq constitution [JURIST news archive]. Talabani also met with the US ambassador, who on Saturday had cautioned Iraq against creating a hard-line Islamic state based on Islamic law with limited rights for women and minorities. Talabani said there was "no pressure" on negotiators from foreign officials. Reuters has more.

10:25 AM ET ~ Talks that were scheduled to continue Monday have been postponed because of a sandstorm that has impeded travel. No breaks resulted from Sunday's talks. AP has more.

[JURIST] In a speech to the American Bar Association [official website] annual meeting in Chicago this weekend, US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens [Wikipedia profile] noted "serious flaws'' in the American capital punishment system, though he stopped short of saying it should be completely done away with. Stevens pointed to recent exonerations, jury-selection processes, and statements from victims' families as areas in the death penalty system that need to be reviewed. The frank comments were made in Illinois, Stevens' home state and a place that has been a hotbed of capital punishment debate since a moratorium on executions was instituted [JURIST report] in 2000 following ths discovery of a number of wrongful convictions. AP has more. The ABA Journal provides local coverage.

[JURIST] Haroon Rashid Aswat [Wikipedia profile], a British man who was arrested by Zambian police [JURIST report] last week, was returned to the UK on Sunday to face charges that he made phone calls to the bombers in preparation for the July 7 London bombing attacks. He was subsequently arrested under a US warrant [AP report] on charges that he conspired to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon about five years ago. British prosecutors are meanwhile considering treason charges against three Muslim clerics who reportedly praised the London attacks. Remarks made by clerics Omar Bakri Mohammed, Abu Izzaden, and Abu Uzair on British television are being investigated by the English attorney general, Lord Goldsmith. Mohammed allegedly praised insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan while vowing not to inform police if he discovered any information about new attacks. Recordings of a radical group made by an undercover reporter may also be sought. AP has more.

[JURIST] Sixty years after deadly atomic blasts hit the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki [Wikipedia backgrounder], thousands rallied across the US over the weekend to call for a ban on nuclear weapons. Protesters gathered in New Mexico, Tennessee, California, and Nevada at sites with historical significance linking them to the bomb or places that are currently used to develop or test nuclear weapons. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 15 protesters were arrested for blocking a road outside a weapons factory that provided fuel for the bomb during World War II. About 200 activists gathered at the Nevada Test Site [official website] for a peaceful demonstration outside the entrance. At numerous locations protestors were given citations and released after crossing police lines. AP has more.

[JURIST] Three days after a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] overturned a lower court ruling and struck down a Hawaiian school policy of only admitting native Hawaiians [JURIST report], nearly 15,000 people marched through downtown Honolulu Saturday to protest. The schools were established in 1883 and educate about 5,100 Hawaiian students from kindergarten through through high school. Operating costs are covered in large part by a trust now worth $6.2 billion and they receives no federal funding. The state contended that the restriction on admission was necessary to remedy economic and educational disadvantages suffered by natives. The court found [PDF opinion] that the Kamehameha Schools [education website] policy violated 42 USC 1981 [text], which forbids racial discrimination in making and enforcing contracts. Kamehameha Schools has said it will appeal. AP has more.