[JURIST] Asian and European countries agreed Tuesday to set new international emissions standards by 2009, after a two-day conference in Hamburg, Germany that included representatives from over 40 nations. Supporters of the new deadline said it was necessary in light of the impending 2012 expiration of the Kyoto Protocol [text; JURIST news archive], which currently governs international greenhouse gases. Attendees also discussed the need for global promotion of alternative energy sources, agreeing to a tentative outline for the different responsibilities of richer and poorer nations in emissions reduction [JURIST news archive]. The European Union has begun exerting pressure on major polluters in Asia, but many Asian countries have indicated they will only reduce emissions in exchange for European green technology. The EU has so far been reluctant to accept the trade, but the first round of negotiations is scheduled to begin in December in Bali, Indonesia. AP has more.

The US has rejected the conference's deadline to reduce emissions globally as too broad. According to chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality James Connaughton [official profile], the Bush administration favors a policy which sets goals in the context of national circumstances, rather than a global mandate. The US also rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol because it excluded developing countries from the restrictions and many feared it would disproportionately harm the US economy. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Bangladeshi interim government arrested seven prominent citizens Tuesday in the latest chapter of its anti-corruption campaign [JURIST news archive]. The military-backed regime detained four former government ministers, two mayors, and an ex-president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry [official website]. Those arrested included former Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, former Health Minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, ex-junior Minister for Energy Rafikul Islam, and former junior Sports Minister Fazlur Rahman. Selim and Islam are members of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League [official website]. Chowdhury and Rahman are prominent members of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Hasina and Kia are political rivals, and continued clashes between their supporters have added to national unrest in the past.

The men were arrested under emergency laws [JURIST report] which allow detention without warrants or specific charges. According to the Bangladeshi government, some of the men were detained for suspected corruption while others were only detained for questioning. Since President Iajuddin Ahmed became leader of the emergency government [JURIST report] in January with a vow to end the country's infamous political corruption, more than 170 prominent citizens have been detained. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] granted certiorari Tuesday in four cases [order list, PDF] to be heard next term. In Hall Street v. Mattel (06-989) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will resolve a circuit split on whether parties may contractually agree to vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act [USC Title 9 text]. In Ali v. Federal Board of Prisons (06-9130) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will decide if sovereign immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act [28 USC 2680(c) text] extends to prison workers who lost the personal property of a prisoner while he was being transferred from one prison to another.

In John R. Sand Gravel Co. v. US (06-1164) [docket; US DOJ brief opposing cert] the court granted certiorari solely to decide whether the six year statute of limitations on Tucker Act [28 USC 2501 text] claims limits the jurisdiction of the US Court of Federal Claims [official website]. Finally, in CSX v. Georgia State Bd. of Equalization (06-1287) [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will determine if railroad companies can challenge a state's method of valuing railroad property in federal court, using federal laws preventing state tax discrimination against railroads [49 USC 11501(b)(1) text]. SCOTUSblog has more.

[JURIST] UK government terrorism law watchdog Lord Carlile of Berriew [party profile] Tuesday warned against the country opting out of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) [PDF text] in the process of adopting tougher anti-terrorism legislation [JURIST report] and expanding the scope of control orders [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Carlile said he believes opting out of the ECHR would be unnecessary, and would lead to clashes between parliament and the judiciary. He made the comments while giving the keynote address at the Royal United Service Institute [official website] conference on International Homeland Security and Resilience [event information], referring specifically to the official backlash against control orders [JURIST report] after three terror suspects subject to the orders were absconded [RUSI analysis].

In March, the UK parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights [official website; JURIST news archive] said that control orders violate the ECHR [JURIST report] and should give way to actual criminal prosecutions. Control orders were first issued [JURIST report] by the Tony Blair government in 2005 and, in addition to being politically controversial, have run into repeated problems in the courts [JURIST report]. Epolitix has more.

[JURIST] Three Russian deputy police chiefs charged with criminal negligence [JURIST report] in connection with their conduct during the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis [JURIST news archive; BBC backgrounder] in which over 300 civilians were killed received amnesty from a Russian court Tuesday. Relatives of the victims, most of whom were children, began vandalizing the courtroom by breaking windows and overturning furniture, forcing the judge reading the order to retreat to another room before finishing, according to Reuters. Prosecutors had alleged that the police officers failed to raise security levels despite warnings about the possibility of attacks in the region.

The officers pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to charges of negligence in March, and could have faced up to 7 years in jail if convicted. Victims rights groups such as Mothers of Beslan [advocacy website] have argued that the government has ignored and covered up failures by the law enforcement agencies involved in the siege and the rescue operation. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A South Korean appellate court Tuesday upheld the conviction of two Samsung [corporate website] executives connected with illegal stock trading [JURIST report]. Tae-Hak Huh and Ro-Bin Park were convicted of breach of duty in 2005 for selling a controlling stake of Samsung holding company Samsung Everland [corporate website] to the son of Samsung Chairman and CEO Kun-Hee Lee [corporate profile; Wikipedia profile] for approximately half of its fair market value. Huh, Everland's former president, was given a suspended jail sentence of three years, while Park, the current president and CEO, was given a suspended jail sentence of two years. The Seoul High Court [official backgrounder] affirmed Huh's three-year sentence, and added an additional year onto Park's two-year sentence in Tuesday's ruling. The court made no judgment on whether Lee was involved with the bond sale.

Samsung has been the center of numerous legal battles in the past few years, many of which stem from criminal antitrust actions involving fixing the price of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) [Wikipedia backgrounder], affecting the cost of personal computers worldwide. Last month, a sixth Samsung executive pleaded guilty [US DOJ press release; JURIST report] to US charges of conspiring to artificially inflate DRAM costs. Samsung's $150 billion sales accounts for 17 percent of South Korea's total economic output. AFP has more.

[JURIST] An Iranian appeals court has acquitted human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani [Amnesty appeal; Wikipedia profile] of charges related to espionage after he spent seven months in prison, Soltani said Monday. According to Soltani, the appeals court held that there was "no proof" of illegal action on his part. Soltani was sentenced to five years imprisonment [JURIST report] for allegedly disclosing confidential information and engaging in propaganda against the government.

Soltani worked with Tehran's Defenders of Human Rights Center, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi [Nobel profile]. He represented dissident journalist Akbar Ganji [PEN American Center profile] and the family of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi [CBC backgrounder report; JURIST news archive], who died in Iranian custody in July 2003. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] has begun an investigation into a proposed purchase of advertising management technology company DoubleClick Inc. by Google Inc. [corporate websites] for possible anti-trust violations, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Google announced [press release] its plans to purchase DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in April, and the FTC investigation was expected to follow after several Internet privacy groups filed a joint complaint [JURIST report; PDF text] with the FTC concerning the potential buy-out. According to Don Harrison, Google's senior corporate counsel, the acquisition "poses no risk to competition" and has been reviewed by "numerous independent analysts and academics."

Google [JURIST news archive] has been the focus of many investigations concerning its compliance with both US and foreign laws. Most recently, the European Commission began an investigation [JURIST report] into whether Google complies with EU privacy rules. In April, AFP and Google settled a landmark copyright infringement lawsuit [JURIST reports] over Google's practice of automatically pulling and displaying photos, headlines and leads of news stories from the websites of AFP subscribers. AP has more.

[JURIST] Jordan's High Judiciary Board appointed Ihssan Barakat [AWLN profile] as Chief of the Court of First Instance Monday, marking the first time a woman will preside over a team of judges in the country. Barakat said that "this is a very important step for Arab women in the region," adding that she is ready for the responsibility and will make providing an efficient judicial system her top priority. She will begin her post on June 1.

Barakat, a founding member of the Arab Women Legal Network, was also the first woman to serve on the Appeals Court of Jordan [JURIST news archive]. As Chief of Court she will lead 21 judges and 81 employees. AFP has more. The Jordan Times has local coverage.

[JURIST] UN human rights envoy Yash Ghai [appointment notice] arrived in Cambodia [JURIST news archive] Tuesday to prepare his latest report on the country's rights situation but encountered opposition from Cambodian authorities who claim that Ghai's previous reports were distorted. Ghai had expressed hope that he would be able to hear reactions to his work, but government officials, including National Assembly President Heng Samrin, have said that it is "pointless" to meet with Ghai. Cambodian officials accuse Ghai of being biased and unreliable.

Ghai issued a report on Cambodia in March, saying that the government has systematically violated human rights and civil liberties [JURIST report] to maintain its hold on power. The report listed illegal land grabs, torture while in police custody, corruption among senior government officials, and steadfast government opposition to democracy among other violations. Last year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen [official profile] said that Ghai should be removed [JURIST report] from his position as special envoy after Ghai publicly criticized Cambodia's intolerance to dissent [AP report]. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website] will not be influenced by post-judgment possibilities in deciding the petition filed by suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry [official website; JURIST news archive], presiding Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said in court Tuesday. Chaudhry claims his removal was illegal and that Pakistan's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) lacks competence to try him for alleged abuses of office. Ramday said that the court "will deliver a judgment on merit" regardless of potential consequences, and will not concern itself with possible future executive orders overturning its decision along the lines of some that have followed past high court rulings against executive interest.

On Saturday, thousands of Pakistanis rallied outside the court [JURIST report] in support of Chaudhry, who returned to the building for the first time since being removed [JURIST report] in March by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official website] after allegedly "receiving numerous complaints and serious allegations for misconduct, misuse of authority and actions prejudicial to the dignity of office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan." Many Pakistani lawyers and opposition leaders believe Chaudhry's suspension was a bid by Musharraf to undermine judicial independence and continue his eight-year rule in an election year. IANS has more.

[JURIST] Iran formally charged two more people in an alleged espionage conspiracy against the government that has left Dr. Haleh Esfandiari [WWC profile] detained in the Evin Prison [BBC backgrounder] for three weeks, a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary said Tuesday. The government for the first time confirmed the arrest and charging of urban planning consultant Kian Tajbakhsh, and confirmed that journalist Parnaz Azima had been released from detention but is not allowed to leave the country. It is believed that Tajbakhsh was actually arrested around May 11, according to a statement [text] from the Open Society Institute [foundation website].

Iran brought formal charges against Esfandiari [JURIST report] last week for an alleged plot "against the sovereignty of the country." She had been serving as director of the Middle East Program at the Washington, DC-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars [think tank website]. Iran confirmed Esfandiari's arrest [JURIST report] earlier this month following months of alleged interrogation after she was prevented from leaving the country. According to a statement [text] issued by the Center, Esfandiari has been unable to leave Iran since December 30, 2006, when masked men stopped Esfandiari's taxi on her way to the airport and took her baggage and travel documents. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that an employee cannot bring a lawsuit for pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [text] for allegedly discriminatory actions that occurred outside the statutory limitations period even when a paycheck is received during the statutory limitations period. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], Lilly Ledbetter, who worked at Goodyear for 19 years, alleged that she received less pay than male counterparts because of sex discrimination. The district court awarded Ledbetter $360,000 in damages but the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed [opinion, PDF], holding that the district court should have granted Goodyear's motion for judgment as a matter of law because the statute required Ledbetter to file her complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) [official website] within six months of the alleged illegal employment practice.

The Supreme Court affirmed the federal appeals court, rejecting Ledbetter's argument that each paycheck issued violated Title VII, triggering a new six-month EEOC filing period. The Court held that "a pay-setting decision is a discrete act that occurs at a particular point in time" and that the statutory period for filing an EEOC claim begins when that discrete act occurs. Read the Court's 5-4 opinion [text] per Justice Alito, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Ginsburg. AP has more.

[JURIST] British authorities submitted a formal extradition request to Russia on Monday, seeking Andrei Lugovoy in the poisoning-murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko [BBC profile; BBC timeline]. Last week, UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith rejected a Russian offer to try Lugovoy in Russia, calling for his extradition [JURIST report] to the United Kingdom. The Russian government has thus far refused to turn Lugovoy over to the UK, saying that the Russian constitution forbids it [MFA statement].

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CRS) [official website] found sufficient evidence to charge [press release; JURIST report] Lugovoy with murder last week. Litvinenko and Lugovoy, both former employees of the Russian state security agency, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) [official website, in Russian], met on November 1, 2006, hours before Litvinenko fell ill of radioactive poisoning from polonium-210 [CDC backgrounder]. Litvinenko died on November 26. AP has more.

[JURIST] A Chinese court sentenced Zheng Xiaoyu, former commissioner of China's State Food and Drug Administration [official website, in Chinese], to death on Tuesday for taking bribes in exchange for his approval of substandard drugs. Zheng received over $832,000 in bribes, allowing eight companies to bypass the drug approval process, including one which released an antibiotic accused of killing at least 10 people. In 2002, China [JURIST news archive] implemented sweeping drug laws that required the approval of all drugs by Zheng's agency, creating a huge backlog, which enabled Zheng's abuse of power. The sentence must be reviewed by an appellate court and eventually the Supreme People's Court before it is final.

In April, China continued its campaign against corruption [JURIST news archive] among public officials by unveiling a set of new rules [JURIST report] aimed at ensuring the integrity of public servants. In March, Chinese Chief Justice Xiao Yang told the National People's Congress, China's parliament, that nine high-ranking Chinese officials were convicted by courts in 2006 [JURIST report] as a result of China's ongoing anti-corruption campaign. AP has more. Xinhua has local coverage.

[JURIST] Venezuelan Information Minister William Lara has filed lawsuits against media giant CNN and Venezuelan broadcast network Globovision [media websites], alleging that the two stations presented false information concerning Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile] and that Globovision issued a call for Chavez's assassination. The government is seeking an order to revoke Globovision's broadcast license. The lawsuits came as police used tear gas, water hoses, and rubber bullets against thousands of protesters demonstrating against Chavez's earlier order to close down the oldest independent television station in the country, Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) [media website]. RCTV was denied a renewal for its state broadcast license and ceased operations [El Universal report] Sunday. Its building and equipment have been seized by the Venezuelan government, which has announced that a new, state-run station will take the place of the popular private broadcast company.

The International Press Institute [advocacy website] has condemned [press release] the RCTV shutdown. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] A conflict over constitutional changes in the Turkish parliament became physical Monday as nearly a dozen MPs started fighting on the parliamentary floor after one member criticized Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer [official profile]. The parliament was debating a constitutional change to presidential elections, an amendment Sezer had originally sent back to MPs [JURIST report], saying that it was adopted without enough discussion. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) [party website, in Turkish; Wikipedia backgrounder], with close ties to Islam, has said that it will push the amendment through again without any changes.

The bill would create a renewable five-year presidential term to replace the current non-renewable seven-year term. According to Turkish law, the amendment must be voted on twice with at least 48 hours between each round of ballots. If the amendment passes both times, the president will not be able to veto it again, but may submit the bill to a popular referendum. AFP has more. Deutsche Welle has additional coverage.

[JURIST] A Zimbabwean government minister confirmed on Monday that the government will proceed with plans to enact the National Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill, which would force foreign business owners to give up controlling interests in private companies located inside Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive]. The bill was approved by the Zimbabwean cabinet [Herald report] earlier in May and then presented to the country's parliament [official website] for consideration. Zimbabwean Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu said that the government policy of forcing businesses to shift to indigenous ownership was a high priority and that the details of how to enable black owners to raise the funds to purchase controlling shares in firms was being carefully considered.

Zimbabwe has pushed for most economic and commercial ventures in the country to be owned by indigenous citizens, but has been harshly criticized [L'Express report] for its failure to train those citizens in how to run the ventures. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile] previously implemented a farm seizure program that critics allege resulted in the nation-wide famine that currently grips the country. ZimOnline has more.