Australian PM calls for oil-for-food kickback inquiry News
Australian PM calls for oil-for-food kickback inquiry

[JURIST] Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official website] asked parliament Monday to establish an independent inquiry into whether any Australian companies paid bribes to Iraqi officials involved in the now defunct UN oil-for-food program [official website, JURIST news archive]. Last week, a UN report [JURIST report; PDF text] issued by an independent panel headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker [official profile], found that officials under Saddam Hussein received more than $1.8 billion in kickbacks from more than 2,200 companies. The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) [corporate website] was named in the report for allegedly paying nearly $300 million to a Jordanian trucking company, which funneled the money to Hussein. However, the report also found insufficient evidence that AWB officials knew where the money was actually going. AWB has denied the company was involved in paying kickbacks [press release] and has promised to fully cooperate with the investigation. AFP has more. ABC Australia has local coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.