Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the UK Environment Agency has been found guilty of polluting the waters of the Barle River, a tributary of the Exe in Devon. The pollution consisted of hazardous chemicals from cement waste that was allowed to flow into the river. The Environment Agency had contracted for the construction of a [...]

The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit against former US Rep. Cass Ballenger which was brought by an American Muslim civil rights group. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued Ballenger for comments he made in a 2003 interview to the Charlotte Observer when he said the [...]

Pascale Duparc Portier : "Avec l'accord du president francais Jacques Chirac, le Premier Ministre Dominique de Villepin a finalement decide de "remplacer" le contrat premiere embauche par d'autres mesures d'aide à l'insertion des jeunes sur le marche du travail, plus ciblees. Le « remplacement » de l'article 8 de la loi sur l'égalité des chances [...]

JURIST has been nominated for a prestigious Webby Award as the best Law website of 2006. Called the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times and presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences , the "Webbies" are the leading international awards honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality. [...]

Human Rights Watch has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to release hundreds of political opponents and reporters who have been arrested in recent months as part of a government crackdown on opposing opinions. The US-based human rights group put their request in a letter released Tuesday, which was sent to Assad saying the Syrian [...]

The family of a man convicted for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings said they will not pursue clemency on his behalf, allowing the Indonesian government to carry out his death sentence, according to a spokesman for the attorney general Tuesday. Imam Samudra has indicated that he wishes to die under the belief that it would [...]

A jury on Tuesday awarded $9 million in punitive damages to a New Jersey man who sued pharmaceutical giant Merck on grounds that his prolonged use of the drug Vioxx caused him to suffer a heart attack, marking the first suit involving facts of long-term use . John McDarby took the pain reliever for four [...]

A Turkish court on Tuesday dropped criminal charges against four journalists over reports critical of a court opinion last fall, but the court upheld charges against a fifth journalist. The court dismissed charges against the four because it held that prosecutors failed to file charges within the two months following publication of the stories. The [...]

Police in Nepal fired on a crowd of pro-democracy protestors Tuesday, injuring at least 12, observers said. Reports said that protestors in Kathmandu marched from an area not covered by a curfew toward a line of police, who then fired on the demonstrators. It was unclear whether police were using live ammunition or rubber bullets. [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak has said that Uzbekistan authorities continue to use torture , particularly against those who oppose the government, noting that he has evidence of systematic torture by police and security forces in the country. Nowak also criticized Germany for failing to arrest former Uzbek Interior Minister Zakir Almatov while [...]