Leading Tuesday's environmental law news, the US Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release the final draft of a rule that will establish standards for pesticide research on human subjects . In August 2005, President Bush signed an appropriations bill (Pub. L. No. 109-54 ) that banned all pesticide research on humans until the EPA [...]

Two judges involved in the Saddam Hussein trial said Tuesday that the real reason for the latest postponement of the hearing was a disagreement among the judges on the Iraqi High Criminal Court – formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal – as to who should replace chief judge Rizqar Mohammed Amin, who resigned earlier this month [...]

Prepared Remarks for US Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at the Georgetown University Law Center, January 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the address. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

A US Army spokesperson said Tuesday that new military death penalty regulations may also apply to enemy combatants. The new rules, which enable the army to determine the location for executions "imposed by military courts-martial or military tribunals and authorized by the president of the United States," mean that future executions could be carried out [...]

US Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said Tuesday that a Senate floor debate on a proposed bill to compensate asbestos victims will begin February 6. Specter has co-sponsored the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005 with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to develop a $140 billion fund to pay claims brought by victims exposed to [...]

Alleged secret detentions in Council of Europe member states, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, January 24, 2006 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US District Court Judge Sim Lake has ruled that the Enron trial , set to begin January 30, will remain in Houston. In a ruling handing down late Monday, Lake denied the request by former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling to move the fraud and conspiracy trial due to the responses of [...]

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday downplayed criticism of the controversial domestic surveillance program administered by the National Security Agency , saying that reports of the program have been misleading. Echoing comments by President George Bush Monday that the program should not be referred to as "domestic surveillance" but instead as a "terrorist surveillance [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by a vote of 10-8, with all Republican members voting for and all Democrats voting against the nomination. Approval was expected as all Republican members of the committee had indicated [...]

The wife of Ugandan opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye , Winnie Byanyima, and Forum for Democratic Change official Jack Sabiti were charged Tuesday with criminal libel and supplying false information for alleging that judges involved in Besigye's trial on treason and rape charges had been bribed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni . The charges stem [...]