Following up on a JURIST report from earlier today, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has acknowledged for the first time that provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act were used in the investigation against Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon attorney wrongly accused of ties to the Madrid train bombings. Gonzales admitted the use of certain provisions by [...]

Over a dozen insurance companies, including AIG and Chubb Corp. , have pulled their support for establishing a $140 billion federal trust fund to pay claims arising from asbestos-related lawsuits. The move makes it unlikely that Congress will approve legislation on the issue this year, which will leave hundreds of US companies in an uncertain [...]

In Tuesday's international brief, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has questioned the fairness of the recent national elections in Zimbabwe . In a statement issued Monday, Annan said that he was concerned that the electoral process failed to assure opposition parties of the fairness of the vote. Morgan Tsvangirai , president of the opposition Movement for [...]

The defense team for Mikhail Khodorkovsky delivered its summation Tuesday, arguing that the state had failed to prove that the former CEO of oil giant Yukos had committed any crime. "This is a complete vacuum and in this vacuum we must defend ourselves," said defense counsel Genrikh Padva. Prosecutors closed their case last week, and [...]

Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, Enron Task Force prosecutors have asked US District Court Judge Sim Lake to move former Enron chief Ken Lay's trial date for personal banking fraud charges to May or June of this year. Lay's Enron fraud trial , along with co-defendants ex-CEO Jeff Skilling and former top accountant [...]

The Bush administration's top law enforcement officials urged renewal and expansion of USA PATRIOT Act provisions in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. FBI Director Robert Mueller asked legislators to expand the FBI's administrative subpoena powers, which allow the government to obtain records without prior approval from a judge or grand jury. Additionally, Mueller [...]

Tens of thousands of Sudanese demonstrators Tuesday gathered at UN headquarters and US and UK embassies in Khartoum to protest the recently approved UN resolution turning Sudanese war crimes trials over to the International Criminal Court. The protesters denounced UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a coward and agent of the US. The demonstrations were promoted [...]

Nonprofit organizations exempted from federal income taxes due to their charitable purpose are becoming top offenders for tax abuse and evasion, Internal Revenue Commissioner Mark W. Everson warned the Senate Finance Committee in a letter. Everson said the IRS has found violations in virtually every type of nonprofit organization, and the sector risks losing the [...]

A panel of Arab intellectuals concluded no major steps have been taken toward democracy in the Middle East in the 2004 Arab Human Development Report released Tuesday. The long-awaited report sponsored by the UN Development Program called reforms in the region "embryonic and fragmentary" and faulted the US for impeding progress through its actions in [...]

The International Committee of the Red Cross has urged the US to investigate a riot that broke out Friday at the Camp Bucca prison camp in southern Iraq. Twelve Iraqi prisoners and four US guards were injured when prisoners began throwing rocks at guards and set several tents on fire, according to the US military. [...]