[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] has opened an internal investigation into its role in the domestic surveillance program approved by President Bush, Rep. Maurice Hinchey [official website] said Wednesday. Counsel for DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility [official website] confirmed that an investigation had been started in response to requests by four House members into the DOJ's role in approving the surveillance program and whether the program was legal under the current law. Hinchey's office has a news release. In January, the DOJ's usual internal investigations arm, the Office of the Inspector-General, passed up the opportunity to investigate the Department's role in the spying scandal itself, claiming it had no jurisdiction [JURIST report].

President Bush came under fire after it was revealed in December that he had approved domestic warrantless wiretaps [JURIST report] by the National Security Agency for terror suspects. Democrats have pushed for a variety of investigations into the program. Republican Sen. Mike DeWine [official website] is considering legislation that would allow the surveillance by exempting it from the requirements Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [text]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Congressional Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would roll back some of the limited liability provisions for vaccine and drug manufacturers in times of public health or bioterror emergency. A group of 21 US Senate and House Democrats led by Sen. Eedward Kennedy (D-MA) [official website] said in a letter [text] describing the proposed Responsible Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act of 2005 that current provisions were too broad and could be abused by manufacturers to avoid liability despite gross negligence or criminal action. They also said provisions defined health emergencies too broadly and left injured people with no compensation.

Limiting liability for vaccine and drug manufacturers has been strongly supported by President Bush [JURIST report] and by Sen. Bill Frist. The current law was passed as part of HR 2863 [bill summary], a defense bill passed in December 2005. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] has been petitioned to force the country's government to bring an action in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] against countries where cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] have been published. A Pakistani lawyer filed the petition Tuesday, arguing that the government had failed to meet its duty of referring the case to the ICJ. The petition also called for Pakistan [JURIST news archive] to withdraw its diplomats from countries where the cartoons were published. Protestors in Karachi on Tuesday also called for the country to sever diplomatic ties with offending European countries.

Violent protests in Pakistan in response to the cartoons left three dead [JURIST report] Wednesday. The cartoons were originally printed by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten [media website] in September, but they have since been republished by other European and overseas media. From Pakistan, Dawn has local coverage.

[JURIST] Hassan Bubacar Jallow [official profile], lead prosecutor for the UN-affiliated International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive] asked Wednesday that the Tribunal transfer the case of former Rwanda official Michel Bagaragaza to Norway. Bagaragaza, who has pleaded not guilty to genocide charges and is being held in the Netherlands [JURIST report], supported the transfer request. He was director of the office controlling the tea industry and a member of the ruling party at the time of the 1994 genocide, and is accused of supporting the training and funding of the youth militia Interahamwe [Wikipedia backgrounder].

Jallow argued that the transfer of cases outside Rwanda [JURIST news archive] would provide for a wider understanding of the events that occurred in Rwanda in the early 1990s. The transfer is also likely to help the ICTR meet its mandate to complete its work by 2010. Norway's criminal code does not include a genocide charge, so Bagaragaza is expected to be charged with accessory to homicide, which carries a maximum 21-year sentence. The ICTR has a news release on the request. UN News Centre has more.

9:39 PM ET - Late reports say Norway has agreed to take the case, making it the first country outside Africa to try a Rwanda genocide suspect. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Indonesia [JURIST news archive] on Wednesday defended death sentences handed down [Melbourne Age report] earlier this week against two Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle narcotics out of the country. An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman said the sentences were in line with Indonesian law and that they should be respected by others. Australia had said it would seek clemency [ABC Australia report] after Andrew Chan, 22, and Myuran, 24, were sentenced Tuesday by a Bali court for working as drug mules. Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] said, however, that his government would wait [interview transcript] for the appeals process to finish before lobbying for any change.

In all, nine Australians were tried in Indonesia on drug offenses, and the other seven received life sentences. Indonesia has imposed the death sentence on more than 25 foreigners for drug trafficking. An Australian national was controversially put to death [JURIST report] by Singapore in December 2005 after being convicted on drug trafficking charges. Xinhuanet has more.

[JURIST] Reversing a stance taken in previous years, Idaho state senators Wednesday voted to put on the November ballot a constitutional amendment [HJR002 text] that would establish one man and one woman marriages as the "only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized." The same measure was defeated in the Senate in 2004 and 2005 [JURIST report], but passed easily this time by 26-9 after sailing through the House last week, 53-7.

The extent to which the amendment would further restrict same-sex couples is unclear since Idaho law already defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, but supporters [Cornerstone Institute advocacy website] say the constitutional amendment would be a backstop against any court ruling that that law is invalid. AP has more. The Idaho Statesman has local coverage.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's environmental law news, the Washington State Senate [official website] has approved a measure [PDF text] that would allow the state to provide more water from the Columbia River basin for agriculture while protecting fish by ensuring water levels during spawning runs. For years, farmers in eastern Washington have battled conservationists in western Washington over the amount of water that could be withdrawn from the rivers for irrigation purposes. The measure sets aside money to create new water supplies for farmers and to increase the water flow in the rivers. The measure had previously passed the House, and it is expected to be signed by the governor. The Seattle Times has more.

In other environmental law news

• Dow Chemical [corporate website] and the former Rockwell International company, now Rockwell Automation [corporate website], have been found guilty of trespass and nuisance in their operation of the Rocky Flats [EPA backgrounder, DOE website] nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, resulting in the largest environmental class action lawsuit in the state's history. The jury, sitting in the US District Court for Colorado [official website], returned a verdict [not yet online] of $553 million for the 12,000 class action plaintiffs for property value loss and contamination of their lands from plutonium released and mishandled at the plant. The facility operated from 1953 to 1989. Dow Chemical plans to appeal the verdict [press release]. The Denver Post has more.
  
  
• The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) [official website] issued a notice [PDF text] of a proposed bulletin [PDF text] that would establish the way federal regulatory agencies should conduct risk assessments before issuing rules, policies, or recommendations. Applying to all agencies, this would encompass in environmental matters EPA risk assessments for air and water emissions, hazardous waste controls and pesticide tolerances, Food and Drug Administration food contamination tolerance levels, and USDA food handling and safety regulations, amongst others. Public comments on the proposal will be accepted until June 15, 2006. Environmental Science and Technology has more.
  
  
• The South Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy [official website] and corporate officials from SK Corp. [corporate website], LG Chem Ltd. [corporate website] and the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association [organization website], signed an agreement Tuesday to set targets for reducing carbon dioxide and other emissions, and to create an air pollution tracking system. The Korea Herald has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for the US Department of Justice have told the US Supreme Court [official website] that inmates held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] cannot challenge their detention by relying on the US Constitution because "the Constitution does not guarantee aliens held abroad a right to habeas corpus." The argument, put forth in the government's reply brief [PDF text] supporting the DOJ's motion to dismiss [PDF text; JURIST report] for lack of jurisdiction, refers to a case brought by Salim Ahmed Hamdan challenging President Bush's authority to establish military commissions to try Guantanamo Bay detainees for war crimes. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case [JURIST report] last November, but the DOJ asked the Court to dismiss the case because the recently passed Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 [JURIST document] limits the ability of Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detentions in federal courts. The DOJ says the law applies retroactively.

Hamdan's defense lawyers responded with a surreply [PDF text; SCOTUSBlog report] Wednesday, arguing that the constitutional clause that limits when the habeas writ can be suspended does not apply only to people living in the US. Hamdan is accused of plotting terrorist activities with Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. He has admitted to serving as a driver for bin Laden, but has denied any connection with terrorist activities. The Supreme Court is expected to consider the government's motion to dismiss the case on Friday. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Several members of the US House of Representatives Wednesday sharply criticized US internet companies for complying with the Chinese government's censorship requests at a Human Rights subcommittee hearing [agenda]. The hearing was called [JURIST report] after Microsoft [corporate website], Yahoo! [corporate website; press release], Cisco [corporate website] and Google [corporate website] admitted that they have been voluntarily withholding from internet users in China certain political and religious content that the Chinese government - which continues to broaden the scope of its censorship laws [AP report] - views as harmful.

Rep. Chris Smith [official website] condemned "enabling dictatorship" for the "sake of profits." A Yahoo! spokesperson echoed [prepared testimony, PDF] a statement issued by the company [JURIST report] on Monday in which it said it was "deeply concerned by efforts of governments to restrict and control open access to information and communication." A representative of Google defended the companies' actions [testimony, PDF] as "a meaningful, though imperfect, contribution to the overall expansion of access to information in China." AP has more.

[JURIST] US Sen. Russell Feingold [official website] has begun one more perhaps-quixotic filibuster against renewal of the USA Patriot Act [JURIST news archive], claiming that new versions of key provisions offer only modest protection for civil liberties [floor statement transcript; MP3 recorded audio]. Feingold has so far received little support on his latest attempt to block renewal [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report] of the far-reaching US anti-terror law, and US Senate Judicial Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] says he will soon have the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster. Sixteen provisions of the act are currently set to expire on March 10.

Most senators agree that years of talks over the expiring provisions have led to tighter limits on governmental power in comparison to the original version of the legislation enacted shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks [JURIST news archive]. While Feingold recognizes only one modest change in favor of protecting civil liberties, other senators point to several improvements. House Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner recently outlined what he regards as 27 new civil liberty safeguards [HJC materials] in the latest Patriot Act renewal conference report. AP has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Hastert promises House passage of Patriot Act renewal compromise
• Senate approval of long-term Patriot Act renewal now likely
• BREAKING NEWS ~ Senate Republicans reach Patriot Act compromise
• Senate approves Patriot Act extension until March 10
• House approves new one-month Patriot Act extension
• Congress set to extend Patriot Act another month as talks continue
• Patriot Act renewal negotiations reach stalemate

[JURIST] Admitted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive] was unexpectedly allowed back into court Wednesday, despite a decision Tuesday by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema barring his presence Tuesday at ongoing jury selection proceedings for his sentencing trial [case docket]. Moussaoui was barred from the courtroom [JURIST report] after several disruptive outbursts over the course of jury selection proceedings, which began on February 6. Brinkema said Tuesday that she might consider allowing Moussaoui back in the courtroom if he agreed to alter his disruptive behavior, but Brinkema has offered no other explanation of her decision to allow Moussaoui to attend proceedings Wednesday.

The morning session of jury selection [JURIST report] went smoothly, with Moussaoui remaining mostly silent throughout the proceedings. Nine prospective members qualified for jury selection, and are expected to join the 85-member jury pool on March 6 when a twelve-member jury and six alternate jurors will be chosen to decide whether Moussaoui will receive the death penalty or life in prison for his role in the Sept. 11 terror attacks [JURIST news archive]. Moussaoui has admitted to being involved with al Qaeda but has said that he was not involved in the Sept. 11 attacks; the prosecution must prove that Moussaoui was directly involved in the attacks if he is to receive the death penalty. AP has more.

[JURIST] Lawyers for Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [JURIST news archive], found guilty [JURIST report] in November on charges [PDF indictment] of joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush, have asked a federal judge to delay his sentencing hearing, scheduled to begin Friday, so that they may investigate whether Abu Ali was a subject of warrantless eavesdropping by the National Security Agency. Prosecutors in the case expressed strong opposition to the delay, arguing that lawyers for Abu Ali have no evidence to suggest he was wronged.

This is one of several cases in which defense lawyers are investigating whether NSA domestic wiretaps were used [JURIST report] to gather evidence against their clients. The Bush administration has insisted that NSA domestic surveillance [JURIST news archive] is legal, but critics contend that the program is a clear violation of federal law. AP has more.

[JURIST] Facing a wartime enlistment deficiency, the US Army [official website] is granting special exceptions, called recruiting waivers [USAREC Regulation 601-56 text, PDF], to an increasingly high percentage of recruits with criminal records or drug and alcohol problems. While the largest category of recruiting waivers were given to those facing medical problems, the largest increase in waivers was among recruits with misdemeanor convictions or those with charges of more serious criminal misconduct, such as aggravated assault, robbery, and vehicular manslaughter.

Many commanding officers fear the increase in recruiting waivers denotes a drop in standards that will lead to discipline problems within units and will narrow the pool of candidates for promotions in the future. The Army has responded that it has decided to look at the "whole person concept" rather than only recruits' past incidents. The Baltimore Sun has more.

[JURIST] New US Supreme Court [official website] Justice Samuel Alito [JURIST news archive] has chosen Adam G. Ciongoli, a former counselor to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft [official profile] as one of his five law clerks. Ciongoli, 37, who currently serves as a senior vice president at Time Warner [corporate website], clerked for Alito in 1995-1996 while Alito was a judge on US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website].

Since the vast majority of legal clerks are usually recent law school graduates, Ciongoli's hire is an unusual choice by Alito. There are concerns that Ciongoli may face issues at the Court that he had previously worked on as Ashcroft's aide, such as the detention and trial of terrorism suspects. According to a 2002 Federal Judicial Center manual, Maintaining the Public Trust: Ethics for Federal Judicial Law Clerks [PDF text], law clerks should not participate in cases which they have worked on "in a previous legal job," or about which they have personal knowledge of disputed facts. The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] A US federal judge in California has ruled [opinion, PDF] that the state must change the drugs it uses when executing prisoners, because the current method may constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. US District Judge Jeremy Fogel [official profile] said that he was concerned that prisoners were conscious during execution by lethal injection and were experiencing extreme pain.

The ruling comes in a suit brought by Michael Morales [NCADP profile], who is scheduled to be executed February 21 for the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl 25 years ago. Morales' attorneys argued that an error in administering the sedatives might make Morales appear to be unconscious, but he might in reality experience severe pain during the execution. In a factually similar case, the US Supreme Court in January agreed to hear [JURIST report; cert. grant, PDF] the appeal of a Florida death row inmate who is challenging that state's lethal injection method. The Supreme Court will not decide the constitutionality of lethal injection, however, but instead will consider whether Hill was entitled to file a challenge to the state's execution method. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Committee to Protect Journalists [advocacy website] has deplored media repression in over 50 countries in its latest annual report [text]. Highlighting unprecedented violence against reporters in the Middle East, it also condemned legal sanctions such as imprisonment and censorship, particularly decrying the crackdown on independent media in Iran [JURIST report] and criticizing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's failure to introduce legislation protecting journalists in that country, including decriminalizing press offenses.

Last month, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) [advocacy website] issued a similarly critical report [text, PDF; JURIST report] on press freedom and treatment of media worldwide, noting that the number of targeted assassinations of journalists is also on the rise. AP has more.

[JURIST] Government officials in Haiti [JURIST news archive] have announced plans to form a commission to review the contested results of that country's February 7 election [JURIST report; BBC backgrounder]. The commission will be composed of members of the president's office, representatives from the Provisional Election Council (CEP) [official website], and members of the political party of leading presidential candidate Rene Preval [Wikipedia profile]. Final results will not be released until after the commission has completed its review.

After the February 7 election, allegations of possible voter fraud arose after two members of the nine-member CEP claimed that election results were manipulated [JURIST report] after discovering discrepancies in election results posted to the CEP website. Preval has also alleged the election was marred by fraud [JURIST report], and said that he would challenge the results if forced into a runoff election. The latest vote tally [PDF] published by the CEP gives Preval 48.76 percent of the vote; Preval needs more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff election. The contested election has led to protests throughout the country, during which UN peacekeepers fired on a group of demonstrators on Monday [JURIST report], killing at least one person. AP has more.

[JURIST] BBC News is reporting that the UK House of Commons [official website] has voted to include the glorification of terrorism as a criminal offense in the proposed Terrorism Bill [text; Home Office backgrounder], overturning the House of Lords on the issue.

The Lords last month voted against outlawing the glorification of terrorism [JURIST report] over concerns that the offense could unduly limit freedom of speech. Prime Minister Tony Blair, however, has said such a prohibition is essential in fighting the threat of extremism. Recent protests in London over the Muhammad cartoons [JURIST news archive] prompted UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke last week to renew efforts [JURIST report] to have the glorification offense reinstated in the proposed anti-terror law. The vote on reinstatement Wednesday was 315-277. BBC News has more.

ALSO ON JURIST  Op-ed: The UK Terrorism Bill: Defending Democracy's Core Values [UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke]

[JURIST] Germany's Federal Constitutional Court [official website in German] ruled Wednesday that a law permitting the German air force to shoot down hijacked planes [JURIST report] to prevent a suicide attack was unconstitutional [press release, in English; decision, in German], reasoning that the government lacks the right to take the lives of passengers in an attempt to save lives on the ground.

German ministers pushed through the legislation [BBC report] in late 2003 after a pilot created panic in Frankfurt by circling the city in a small plane and threatening to crash it into the European Central Bank tower. Last year a solo pilot crashed a similar plane in front of Germany's parliament building in an apparent suicide. Reuters has more. Deutsche Welle has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US government has formally requested the extradition from Canada of Canadian citizen Abdullah Khadr [Wikipedia profile; CBC family backgrounder], a week after indicting him [JURIST report] on charges [PDF indictment; US DOJ press release] of procuring weapons to be used by al-Qaida against American forces in Afghanistan in 2003.

Khadr, the son of alleged al-Qaida financier Ahmed Said Khadr [Wikipedia profile] and brother of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive], was arrested by the RCMP [CBC report] in Toronto in December 2005 on a US warrant after returning from Pakistan where he had been jailed.

Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews [JURIST report] has 30 days to decide whether to proceed with the extradition request and refer the case to a judge for an extradition hearing under the terms of the Canadian federal Extradition Act [text; backgrounder on extradition from Canada]. If a judge decides extradition is appropriate Khadr still has the right to appeal, which could delay actual extradition by months or years. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Wednesday's international brief, Ugandan General Court Martial (GCM) Chairman Elly Tumwine has gone ahead with the trial of over 20 suspects accused of collaborating with Ugandan opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye [BBC profile] on charges of terrorism and illegal possession of firearms [JURIST report] despite a Ugandan Constitutional Court ruling [PDF text; JURIST report] that the proceedings are unconstitutional. The 20 men, allegedly members of the People's Redemption Army, were supposed to have been released to police custody to face civil criminal charges after the Ugandan Constitutional Court [official website] ruled that Besigye and his co-defendants could not be tried by the GCM for charges with no military connection and for which the defendants already faced civil charges. Tumwine has denied the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court over the GCM and has announced his intent to continue the trial to a conclusion. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Uganda [JURIST news archive]. Uganda's Monitor Online has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• Thirteen UN staff members operating in Eritrea have been detained by the Eritrean government but have not been charged by officials with any crime. A significant number of the remainder of the civilian UN mission in Eritrea [official website], tasked with monitoring the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia, have reportedly gone into hiding, fearing detention or arrest. The UN has protested the detentions to the Eritrean government, but the only response has been a statement by the Eritrean Minister of Information saying that Eritrea would not allow the UN to harbor 'fugitives' from Eritrea. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of the United Nations [JURIST news archive]. BBC News has more.
  
  
• The Nepali Congress, a government watchdog in Nepal, has called on King Gyanendra [official profile] to re-institute the Nepalese House of Representatives, which he dissolved [JURIST report] last February 1. The NC also called on the Nepal Supreme Court [official website] to continue its recent challenge of royal authority [JURIST report] by ruling that the February 1 declaration abolishing elected government in Nepal was unconstitutional. The NC defended its position encouraging protests against the monarchy as necessary to see the re-introduction of democracy to Nepal. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal [JURIST news archive]. eKantipur.com has local coverage.

[JURIST] Previously unpublished photographs [SMH slides] and video depicting alleged abuse of prisoners by US personnel at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] were shown on Australian television Wednesday. In an effort to expose "the extent of the horror that occurred at Abu Ghraib," SBS television's Dateline program showed images [program transcript; AAP report] of blood-soaked prisoners who had been tortured or shot and a detainee who seemed to be covered in feces, along with video of a prisoner repeatedly slamming his head into a door and a group of prisoners being forced to masturbate.

The existence of the images was not unknown and they were viewed by members of Congress in private briefings when the original Abu Ghraib photographs were made public in 2004. They are also the subject of litigation in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union sued [ACLU case backgrounder] under the Freedom of Information Act and in September won a court order [PDF decision; JURIST report] giving them access to the photographs, but the government is currently appealing that decision [SMH report], arguing that their release would further anti-American sentiment. In his decision to allow the ACLU access to the photographs, US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote that "fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command."

The original Abu Ghraib photographs led to the jailing of several US soldiers including Charles Graner [JURIST report], who appears in some of the new images, and Lynndie England [JURIST news archive], who warned last year that she knew of "worse things" happening at Iraqi military prison [JURIST report] and that the pictures previously made public did not reflect the extent of the abuse that occurred at the facility. Current US military commanders in Iraq have recently expressed concern that the conditions at Abu Ghraib are helping to fuel the insurgency [NYT report] in Iraq, and are worried that overcrowding at the prison allows detainees to share their experiences fighting the US and the new Iraqi government. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The number of alleged international terrorism suspects named in a centralized US database has more than quadrupled since the list's inception in 2003, according to a report in Wednesday's Washington Post. The list, compiled by the National Counterterrorism Center [official website] based on information from the CIA, FBI, NSA and other agencies, began with 75,000 names and now has 325,000.

NCTC officials say that the actual number of individuals listed is closer to 200,000 because of duplications resulting from different spellings or aliases. An administration official added that "only a very, very small fraction" of those named were US citizens and it is unclear how many names on the list are derived from the NSA's domestic surveillance program [JURIST news archive]. Human rights groups have denounced similar terror lists [JURIST report] as arbitrary and unfair for not providing individuals a chance to clear their names. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Jordan military court on Wednesday sentenced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi [BBC profile], the alleged head of al Qaeda in Iraq, and eight other men to death for conspiring to attack several sites in Jordan with explosives and toxic chemicals. Al-Zarqawi and three of the defendants were sentenced in absentia, but the other five, including the mastermind behind the 2004 plot, were present when the judge handed down the sentences. Another two defendants received one to three year prison sentences and an additional two were acquitted of being involved in the conspiracy to attack the US embassy in Jordan, the prime minister's office and other sites.

Al-Zarqawi has been sentenced to death in absentia by Jordan courts on two prior occasions. In December 2005, he received the death penalty [JURIST report] in connection with a failed suicide bombing on the Jordan-Iraq border and he was also sentenced to death in connection with the murder of a US diplomat [Islamonline.net report] in 2002. Last March, a Jordan court sentenced al-Zarqawi to 15 years [JURIST report] for a plot to attack the Jordan embassy in Iraq. AP has more.

[JURIST] Western businesses burned and three people were killed Wednesday as Pakistanis took to the streets in a third day of protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive]. A man was shot dead in Lahore as violent clashes with police erupted during a rally of 1,500 students outside a university. In Peshawar near the Afghanistan border, 70,000 demonstrators gathered, burning a KFC restaurant and three movie theaters and looting the offices of a Norwegian mobile phone company while battling police armed with batons.

Though protests around Asia and the Middle East over the cartoons - which first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten [media website] in September and have been reprinted [Le Monde slide show] in several major European papers - have subsided in recent days, violent demonstrations have increased in Pakistan this week [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST Europe] Microsoft [corporate website] must provide a written answer to EU complaints that it has failed to comply with an antitrust ruling against the software giant by midnight European time Wednesday or risk daily fines of up to 2 million euros ($2.38 million US). The European Commission (EC) [official website], however, has branded 71 of the 100 files relating to Microsoft's antitrust file as confidential; Microsoft claims it needs access to those files to defend itself and has stated it will be requesting an oral hearing to contest the confidential labeling.

In March 2004, the Commission concluded a five year investigation [EC press release] which held that Microsoft had failed [ruling PDF text] to make its server software sufficiently accessible to outside programmers. The Commission also levied a record fine of 497 million euros ($613 million US) against Microsoft and ordered that it share its technical data. Microsoft has instead offered to share its source code [JURIST report], a move that has been viewed with scepticism by the Commission and Microsoft's rivals. The company provides information on its compliance with the EU ruling [Microsoft press release]. Microsoft's appeal against the Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling is scheduled for late April 2006. AP has more.

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

[JURIST Europe] British MPs voted Tuesday by an overwhelming margin to ban smoking in all public enclosed spaces beginning in the summer of 2007. Prime Minister Tony Blair [official profile], Chancellor Gordon Brown [official profile], and Home Secretary Charles Clark [official profile] were the among the Labor MPs [party website] who voted for a full ban instead of the limited version of the Health Bill [official PDF text] originally approved by Cabinet [JURIST report] last fall that would have allowed exceptions for smoking in pubs that do not serve food and exempting private members' clubs. The ban was approved on a free vote.

England now joins Scotland and Northern Ireland, where bills have already been passed banning public smoking [Independent report] that will take effect in March 2006 and April 2007 respectively. The current Health Bill contains a provision allowing the Welsh assembly [official website] to decide the matter for itself. The vote has been largely supported by health groups, unions, and pub owners who were worried about the possible exemption of private members' clubs. Others, such as Simon Clark, director of smoking support group Forest [advocacy website], opposed the vote, arguing that it is a disproportionate solution to the problem of second-hand smoke and denies the public freedom of choice for a legal product. BBC News has local coverage.

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