[JURIST] The US Army [official website] has issued new regulations governing the military death penalty [DPIC backgrounder]. What the Army is calling a "major revision", however, raises questions whether the military is considering its first execution since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was put to death after being convicted of rape and attempted murder. Currently, there are six men on military death row in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas [official website] with one man believed to be the next in line for execution. Army Pvt. Dwight Loving was convicted of the murders of two taxicab drivers in 1988. His conviction was upheld [opinion] by the US Supreme Court and the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Services rejected [opinion] his appeal last month. If his execution were to proceed, President Bush would have to give his approval. The new regulations clarify the role of various officers in the execution procedure as well as allow executions to take place at other sites besides Fort Leavenworth. Anti-death penalty advocates fear that these regulations may also be used to execute foreign terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], non-capital trials for some of whom are currently proceeding. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Defense lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [CBS News profile], the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney indicted last October in the CIA leak case [JURIST news archive], petitioned Monday to use classified evidence in his trial, a move that could delay the case. The request and the documents are classified but defense lawyers hinted that they want to use the nature of Valerie Plame's work in the CIA as evidence. The lawyers claim Plame's work is among the "significant disagreements" they have with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald [official website]. US District Judge Reggie B. Walton [official profile] will decide what evidence will be presented to the jury based on the Classified Information Procedures Act [text], passed by Congress in 1980. In November Libby pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to charges [PDF indictment; JURIST report] of obstructing justice, perjury and making false statements. AP has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge Monday overturned as unconstitutional a Louisiana law [text] that would have moved the state's congressional primary from November to October. Louisiana passed the legislation under the impetus of its "open primary" system that allows all candidates to run together, regardless of party affiliation. If no candidate won over 50%, a run-off primary election would have been held a month later, in November. The court determined that Louisiana was violating the federal law that requires elections for national offices to be held at the same time and therefore had to hold its initial primary elections in November, in sync with the rest of the nation. As a result, Louisiana run-off elections will now take place in December, putting Louisiana behind all of the other states. This effect has led to concerns [Advocate report] that Louisiana representatives will be last in line for seniority and committee assignments. The Louisiana attorney general has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision. AP has more. 

[JURIST] A European Union [official website] spokesman said Monday that Turkey's action in dropping charges [JURIST report] against novelist Orhan Pamuk [TIME profile; JURIST news archive] for "insulting Turkishness" was "good news". EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn [official profile] cautioned, however, that other "journalists, editors, writers and academics still face similar charges" in Turkey, and said that the country's lawmakers needed to revise Turkey's penal code to further protect freedom of expression. Turkey is under pressure to make a wide variety of legal and social changes [JURIST report] before it will be accepted into the 25-nation European grouping. Expatica has more.

[JURIST] Cook County Circuit Court Judge Bernetta D. Bush Monday approved a $20 million final settlement in a class action suit against newspaper publishing giant Hollinger International Inc. [corporate website]. Advertisers brought the suit claiming they had been defrauded by inflated circulation numbers for the Chicago Sun-Times [media website] and Daily Southtown [media website] newspapers. The final settlement terms incorporated the settlement agreement [JURIST report] announced in September, in which Hollinger agreed to pay $7.7 million in cash, $5.6 million in legal fees and $7.3 in free advertising. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday refused to reconsider a federal court ruling that the BlackBerry [product website], the hand-held internet and email device from Research in Motion (RIM) [corporate website], violated existing patent rights. Last August, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld [PDF text] a trial court determination [PDF text] that RIM violated patents held by NTP, Inc. in making and selling the BlackBerry devices in the United States. In its brief requesting certiorari, RIM claimed that because its main e-mail switching facility was located in Canada, the company was not subject to US patent laws. The companies had reached an agreement allowing the sale of the BlackBerry in the US, but the deal fell through, and a federal court has refused [JURIST report] RIM's request to enforce the settlement. Reuters has more. Read a press release from RIM on the Court's denial of certiorari and the Court's full Order List.

[JURIST] Iraq's newly-elected parliament will ignore a constitutional provision on setting the date for their first meeting, officials announced Monday. According to the constitution [JURIST news archive; JURIST document], approved in the 2005 October referendum [JURIST report], parliament is to meet 15 days after the final certification of an election to elect a speaker and president. Final results [JURIST report] of the December 15 election [JURIST report] were announced last week and certification is expected around February 3, resulting in a constitutional deadline for the first parliamentary meeting around February 18. According to officials, however, rival factions need time to negotiate and have yet to establish a timetable for the first meeting. While the constitution specifies consecutive selection of leadership positions, party leaders have agreed that they intend to present key positions simultaneously at the meeting, and would like to identify a president, prime minister and speaker before that time. According to Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite official, consensus has been reached to retain Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] as president and to give the Shiite Alliance the right to name the prime minister. Sunni leaders would then be able to propose a choice for speaker. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A ban on public gatherings, night-time curfews and other restrictions in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal [JURIST news archive] capital, has been lifted by government officials. Nepalese officials have also lifted a ban on mobile phone use and released senior opposition leaders from house arrest. Nepal's government implemented the restrictions last week in anticipation of expected large-scale demonstrations; despite the bans, police and pro-democracy protesters clashed[JURIST report] in the city Saturday over upcoming elections, claimed to be undemocratic and engineered only to keep in power King Gyanendra [BBC profile; TIME interview], who took control of government operations [JURIST report] last February. Nepal Information Minister Shrish Sumshere Rana said the restrictions were lifted because security had improved and that the elections would be held "no matter what." Another major opposition rally in the capital is planned for Tuesday. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] US President George Bush on Monday defended his authorization of the domestic surveillance [JURIST news archive] program employed by the National Security Agency (NSA) [official website], saying that he was acting under a Congressional mandate to protect the US from terrorist attacks. In a speech [transcript] at Kansas State University, Bush said the Terrorist Surveillance Program [White House position paper], as it is now being referred to by the administration, has been repeatedly reviewed in order to ensure that it is within the bounds of the law. Bush also said:

Federal courts have consistently ruled that a President has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies. Predecessors of mine have used that same constitutional authority. Recently there was a Supreme Court case called the Hamdi case. It ruled the authorization for the use of military force passed by the Congress in 2001 -- in other words, Congress passed this piece of legislation. And the Court ruled, the Supreme Court ruled that it gave the President additional authority to use what it called "the fundamental incidents of waging war" against al Qaeda.

I'm not a lawyer, but I can tell you what it means. It means Congress gave me the authority to use necessary force to protect the American people, but it didn't prescribe the tactics. It's an -- you've got the power to protect us, but we're not going to tell you how. And one of the ways to protect the American people is to understand the intentions of the enemy. I told you it's a different kind of war with a different kind of enemy. If they're making phone calls into the United States, we need to know why -- to protect you.

[JURIST] Mikhail Khodorkovsky [MosNews profile; JURIST news archive], the former owner of Russian oil giant Yukos [corporate website; JURIST news archive] convicted of tax fraud and now incarcerated in a Siberian prison [JURIST report], has appealed to the Russian Supreme Court against Siberian prison regulations which restrict prisoners' access to lawyers. Khodorkovsky's press service [official trial website] says that Khodorkovsky is allowed meetings with his lawyers for up to four hours each day, but that under existing rules the meetings can only take place outside working hours between wake-up and lock-up. Khodorkovsky claims that his meetings with his lawyers in preparation for his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights [official website] constitute work, and should be taken into account in scheduling. His lawyers also argue that prison regulations cannot properly restrict access to lawyers: 'according to the Constitution [part 3 article 55], such restrictions can only be established on the level of federal laws', and the Russian criminal and penal code only specifies minimum lengths of meetings with lawyers, not the times during which the meetings can take place. The court is scheduled to hear the case on February 17. UPI has more.

[JURIST] Russia's most senior judge has predicted that the Kremlin's growing power will eventually result in a dictatorship if it remains unchecked by the country's judiciary. Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation [Russian Information Network backgrounder] Valery Zorkin made his comments in a Reuters interview following criticism that the country's judiciary is weak, incompetent, and willing to accommodate the Kremlin's agenda. The recent conviction of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [advocacy profile; JURIST news archive] for tax fraud [JURIST report] has lately deepened these perceptions among the public. Zorkin couched his criticism with an understanding of the need for a strong and capable executive branch, but said that such power should not be "an aim in itself." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Jury selection is slated to begin Tuesday in Rio Grande City, Texas, in the latest wrongful death case involving the painkiller Vioxx [Merck Vioxx Information Center website; JURIST news archive]. The family of Leonel Garza is suing Merck Pharmaceutical Company [corporate website] after he suffered a fatal heart attack in 2001, one month after he discontinued using Vioxx. Outside council for Merck claims that Garza had a previous history of heart disease and that there is "no reliable scientific evidence" connecting the drug with his death. This is the fourth lawsuit to link the painkiller with heart attacks, and is one of approximately 10,000 suits filed against Merck since Vioxx was withdrawn in September, 2004. Studies have suggested that those who use Vioxx for longer than 18 months face an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Merck lost the first Vioxx case [JURIST report] tried in Texas state court in August, but in November won a case [JURIST report] in New Jersey state court. The first federal Vioxx trial resulted in a mistrial [JURIST report] in Houston in December. CNNmoney.com has more.

ALSO ON JURIST Op-ed: Much Pain, Much Gain: Skeptical Ruminations on the Vioxx Litigation

[JURIST] In a statement issued Monday, Uzbek opposition group Sunshine Uzbekistan [party website] called on authorities to hold open proceedings [statement, in Russian] when opposition leader, Sanjar Umarov [official profile] goes on trial. Umarov, a business man with ties to the United States, was arrested in October [JURIST report] and faces charges of embezzlement, hiding foreign currency, tax avoidance, bribery, and other economic crimes. The government claims that Umarov and his brothers headed a criminal group which damaged the country's economy. Nodira Hidoyatova, another Sunshine Uzbekistan coordinator also faces trial on similar charges. The United States and Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] have both criticized Umarov's arrest [JURIST report], saying that it was politically motivated. Sunshine Uzbekistan focuses on increasing Western investments and free market reforms. The coalition became popular after an uprising of violence in Andijan [JURIST news archive] last May where the group and other rights activists demanded economic reform and dismissal of the Uzbek government. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Several family members and former employees of former Chilean president General Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive] were indicted [PDF text] Monday on tax evasion charges. Judge Carlos Cerda issued arrest warrants for Pinochet's wife, four of his children, daughter-in-law, former attorney and secretary, following the release of indictments that all filed false tax returns. Pinochet faces tax evasion and corruption charges [JURIST report] himself, and his wife and son have already been charged as accomplices [JURIST report] relating to those allegations. The former dictator, who has also been indicted on human rights charges [JURIST report], remains under house arrest [JURIST report] until his trial. AP has more. From Santiago, La Nacion has local coverage.

[JURIST] Six non-US citizens who were arrested and detained on visa violations as "persons of interest" in terror investigations after the Sept. 11 attacks return to the United States this week to give depositions in a lawsuit filed against detention guards [JURIST report] and top government officials. The lawsuit brings allegations of abuse by guards in the Brooklyn detention center where they were held and claims that they were deprived of their due process rights because of their national origin or religion. The six were eventually deported after being cleared of any terrorist involvement. Defendants in the lawsuit also include former US Attorney General John Ashcroft [official profile] and FBI director Robert Mueller III [official profile]. Since the six men filed the lawsuit, the US Justice Department uncovered widespread abuse at the detention center [DOJ report; JURIST report] and other issues in immigrant detentions, leading to the discipline of several guards. Four of the individuals are from Egypt, one is from Pakistan, and the other is from London, and all are under strict conditions by the US government that they remain in the constant custody of federal marshals without access to the telephone during their return to the United States. Monday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Turkish state prosecutors have set January 18, 2010 as the date when Mehmet Ali Agca [Wikipedia profile], the man who shot Pope John Paul II [official website] in 1981, will be released from jail. Agca was freed [JURIST report] from a Turkish prison earlier this month for a brief period of time amidst protests and a legal challenge against his release [JURIST report]. Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals of Criminal Department ordered that Agca return to jail [JURIST report] last week, saying he had not spent enough time in prison for his crimes, including the murder of Turkish journalist Abdi Ipekci [profile]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Newly-elected Bolivian president Evo Morales [official website; BBC profile] addressed the nation during his inauguration speech [excerpts] Sunday and promised to promote justice for indigenous Bolivian Indians, saying that they had been discriminated against and "never recognized as human beings." Morales, who became the first indigenous person elected president of Bolivia in December, is the third president in recent years. He replaces Eduardo Rodriguez, the former head of the Supreme Court, who took office [JURIST report] in June 2005 following weeks of leftist and indigenous protests demanding nationalizations to protect the country's vast natural resources and constitutional changes [JURIST report] to give the poor greater representation. Morales is an outspoken proponent for legalized cultivation of coca and the nationalization of the oil and gas industry. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The chief investigative judge for the Iraqi High Criminal Court (formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website]) announced Monday that judge Ra'uf Rashid will replace former chief judge Rizgar Muhammad Amin in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive]. Amin's resignation earlier this month [JURIST news report] was followed by a period of confusion about the fate of the lead tribunal position. Iraqi officials initially denied that Amin had resigned, subsequently urged him to stay, and later suggested replacing him with Judge Sayeed al-Hammash [JURIST report], who was then identified as a suspected former member of the banned Baath party [BBC backgrounder]. Amin told reporters [Reuters report] Sunday that his decision to resign was final and was sparked by government insistence that he was too lenient during proceedings. The trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday. The New York Times has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• New Saddam trial chief judge to stay on despite Baath party allegations
• Saddam trial judges disagree over choice of new chief judge
• Saddam trial chief judge replaced
• Iraq government trying to talk chief Saddam judge out of resigning
• Iraq tribunal confirms chief Saddam judge has offered resignation
• Colleagues deny reports Saddam chief judge to quit as confusion reigns
• Saddam trial chief judge to resign

[JURIST] Sudanese security forces released nearly 50 human rights delegates attending the African Union [official website, JURIST news archive] summit in Khartoum Monday. Members of the Sudanese Organization Against Torture [advocacy website], Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International and the International Bar Association were temporarily detained after forces raided their meeting and took the delegates into custody without explanation [JURIST news report] late Sunday. Many, including the European Union ambassador in Khartoum, have indicated that the action reflects serious doubts that Sudan can assume the rotating presidency of the AU in light of its own human rights violations. The Herald Sun has more.

1:27 PM ET - A Sudanese presidential adviser said Monday that Sudan is prepared to abandon efforts to lead the African Union, in order to avoid creating a rift within the organization. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] handed down decisions in three cases Monday, including a decision in Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission [Duke Law case backgrounder], where the Court remanded the case to the federal District Court in Washington, DC to reexamine whether the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 [text] violates the First Amendment right to free speech when it bans corporate and union sponsorship of political issue ads that mention a specific candidate from airing within two months of the election. The Federal Election Commission [official website] issued an injunction in 2004 barring Wisconsin Right to Life [advocacy website] from airing an advertisement mentioning US Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) [official website] two months before his reelection. The lower court had ruled [text] against the anti-abortion group, prompting a request that the Supreme Court strike down [JURIST report] the part of the law that called for the two-month ban. The Supreme Court said the lower court had misread a 2003 ruling [text] by the high court which upheld a federal campaign finance law, saying that ruling "did not purport to resolve future as-applied challenges," and returned the case to the lower court. Read the Court's per curiam opinion [PDF text]. AP has more.

In Central Virginia Comm. College v. Katz [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court declined to apply the state sovereign immunity doctrine to claims brought under the Bankruptcy Clause. The case involved four state schools in Virginia which did business with Wallace's Bookstores prior to the store's bankruptcy. The liquidating supervisor had sued to collect the debts allegedly owed to the store, but the schools moved to dismiss the suit based on state sovereign immunity, which the bankruptcy court denied. The decision of the bankruptcy court was upheld by the district court and also affirmed [text] by the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website]. The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts, holding that the bankruptcy trustee was not barred from suing by sovereign immunity. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Stevens, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Thomas, joined by Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Scalia and Kennedy. Reuters has more.

In the final case Monday, Unitherm Food Systems v. Swift-Eckrich [Duke Law case backgrounder], the Court ruled that a court of appeals may not review the sufficiency of evidence supporting a jury verdict under Rule 50(a) [text] of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure when the party requesting the review did not also renew the motion for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(b) [text], nor move for a new trial under Rule 59 [text]. Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Thomas, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens, joined by Justice Kennedy.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] condemned "Iranian meddling" in Iraq after being briefed on major Iraqi, Arab and international affairs over the weekend, his defense team said Monday. Defense lawyer Saleh al-Armuti said Hussein had complained of not being kept up to date on world news so his lawyers filled him in during a five-hour meeting at the jail where Hussein is being detained. Hussein said the Iranians have a "long history of rancor, the worst in the world," and questioned why the Arabs allowed Iran to participate in Iraq's occupation. Iranian justice officials have called for Hussein to be prosecuted [JURIST report] for atrocities allegedly committed during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war [BBC backgrounder; Wikipedia backgrounder] in the 1980s, and have prepared a list of charges [JURIST report], including genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of international law, and using prohibited chemical weapons. Armuti also said that the former dictator's defense lawyers plan to file a lawsuit [DeHavilland report] against US President George Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair [official website] in a European international court this week regarding what they are calling "the illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign state." Hussein is also requesting that his trial be moved from Baghdad to Qatar or Jordan. Hussein's trial [JURIST news archive] is set to resume Tuesday. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The number of targeted assassinations [EJIL paper, PDF] of journalists is on the rise, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) [advocacy website] said Monday in its annual report, Targeting and Tragedy: Journalists and Media Staff Killed in 2005 [PDF text, Part II, Part III]. The IFJ reports that 89 of the record 150 media staff who died last year during the course of their work were victims of targeted killings, including 35 in Iraq, 10 in the Philippines, and 12 in Latin America and Haiti. In the report, the IFJ decried a "culture of neglect and indifference" [press release] that it says surrounds the deaths, criticizing law enforcement officials for conducting few serious investigations into the epidemic of violence against the media and calling on the United Nations to take action. At least 61 deaths were caused by accidents rather than deliberate killings, including 48 resulting from the December 6 crash of a military aircraft in Tehran. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Activists around the country marked the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade [opinion] with demonstrations on Sunday. In Minnesota, San Francisco, Idaho and Michigan, hundreds of anti-abortion and abortion rights demonstrators gathered in front of state capitols. Activists in Michigan marked the anniversary by debuting Michigan Chooses Life, an initiative to change the state constitution to legally define a person as existing at the moment of conception. In Washington, DC, abortion rights activists gathered in front of the US Supreme Court in advance of Monday's anti-abortion demonstration on the mall, for which President Bush has offered his support [AP report]. Many are speculating about how the nomination of Samuel Alito [official profile; JURIST news archive] to the Supreme Court will affect the January 22, 1973 decision. Alito has refused to give his views on the issue [JURIST report], saying that he would keep an open mind [JURIST report] on the issue. AP has more.

[JURIST] The trial of former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic [BBC profile; ICTY case backgrounder] resumed Monday at The Hague, as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] ended its extended winter break. The break had been prolonged [ICTY press release; JURIST report] due to health concerns raised yet again by Milosevic. The court has yet to rule on a request by Milosevic [JURIST report] to suspend the trial and grant him temporary leave from court detention to see Russian medical professionals concerning his heart condition. The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor has opposed the request, fearing that Milosevic will cite health concerns once in Moscow as grounds for not returning to the tribunal. Russian officials have said they will allow Milosevic to travel to Moscow for treatment [JURIST report], and have said they will guarantee his return to the tribunal. Milosevic has been representing himself since a court ruling in 2004 which affirmed his right to conduct his own defense. The court has said that Milosevic has already used over three-quarters of his allowed defense time and hopes to wrap the case up this year [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Topic: Slobodan Milosevic | Text: Milosevic trial severance ruling | Video: Milosevic trial health postponement

[JURIST Europe] The UK High Court [judicial website] Monday rejected a review of guidelines [UK Dept. of Health backgrounder] that do not require parental consent for minors to receive contraception or abortion advice. Sue Axon of Manchester, a mother of five, had brought a lawsuit hoping to change the law to prevent girls under 16 from getting confidential advice without parental notification. The UK Department of Health [government website] argued that confidentiality was a necessary component of the government's strategy to reduce teenage pregnancy and improve sexual health. Currently, it is considered "good practice" for doctors to persuade minors to inform their parents, but doctors must respect the young person's confidentiality. BBC News has local coverage.

Tatyana Margolin is an Associate Editor for JURIST Europe, reporting European legal news from a European perspective. She is based in the UK.

[JURIST] Leading Monday's international brief, the 2006 African Union [official website] summit opened Monday in Khartoum, Sudan, with a sharp controversy over the potential chairmanship of the organization by a regime accused of directly contributing to over 300,000 deaths and nearly two million Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur [JURIST news archive] over the past several years. Traditionally the chairmanship of the AU is held by the nation hosting the annual summit, but rebel leaders from Darfur have announced that they will cut off all peace negotiations with Sudan if Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir [BBC profile] is allowed to chair the regional group. Five African nations have formally requested al-Beshir to withdraw his nomination for the post and several more western and southern African nations have expressed concern over the position going to the head of a country likely to be the subject of AU action over the next year. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• A representative of the opposition political parties in Nepal [government website] has filed a formal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the Nepal Supreme Court [judicial website] against a Nepalese Home Ministry Order imposed on January 18 that denies political parties the right to hold assemblies, conduct peace protests, and stage sit-ins within the capital city of Kathmandu. The order was invoked under Section 6(3)(a) of the Nepal Local Administration Act 2028 BS which allows the government to deny these rights on the basis of suspicion of Maoist infiltration of political parties. The PIL alleges that the order is illegal under Article 112 of the 1990 Nepal Constitution [official text], which holds that any law prohibiting free assembly of recognized political parties is void, and has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the order. On Saturday, Nepalese police used tear gas to disperse protestors defying the ban [JURIST report] in Kathmandu, arresting 300. The Court has set Tuesday as the preliminary hearing date. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. NepalNews.com has local coverage.
  
  
• The political cabinet in Kuwait [official information website], led by Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has requested that the Kuwaiti Parliament hold hearings on the medical fitness of Emir Sheikh Saad al-Abdulla al-Sabah, who is set to take the oath of office on Tuesday. Sheikh Saad, 76, took over the leadership of Kuwait on January 15, following the death of his cousin Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, but his ability to rule the tiny Arabian nation has been questioned in light of his documented health difficulties. A member of the Kuwaiti cabinet confirmed that a letter had been sent to the Kuwaiti Parliament asking them to conduct a special review of Sheikh Saad under the laws of succession. According to the Kuwait Constitution [text], the cabinet can have a medical report on the state of the Emir presented to the Parliament, which can then remove the Emir by a two-thirds vote in the 50 person legislature. If Sheik Saad is removed, Prime Minister Sabah is his most likely replacement. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Kuwait [JURIST news archive]. Reuters has more.