The US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has said that former head of the UN Oil-for-Food program Benon Sevan made over $1 million from allocating oil from Saddam Hussein's regime. An independent UN inquiry into the Oil-for-Food program concluded that Sevan solicited oil deals in an improper manner , but stopped [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, Feb. 15. The US Senate convenes at 9:45 AM ET today and is scheduled to consider the nomination of Judge Michael Chertoff for Secretary of Homeland Security. A vote on Chertoff's nomination is expected at 4 PM ET. Watch [...]

Baltimore Sun Co. v. Ehrlich et al., District Court for the Northern District of Maryland, Judge William D. Quarles Jr., February 14, 2005 . Excerpt: Because, as discussed above, the Sun seeks the declaration of a constitutional right that neither the Supreme Court nor the Fourth Circuit has recognized—and, in fact, seeks more access than [...]

As he promised in December , President Bush announced Monday that he has re-nominated for federal judgeships some 20 candidates whose initial nominations failed, and who generally were derided by Democrats as too right-wing on a wide range of issues. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded to the re-nominations [...]

In the first trip by a Serbian leader through the province since the end of civil war in 1999, President Boris Tadic has forcefully asserted his country's claim to Kosovo, which has been run by the UN for the past five years after being under Serb control during the rule of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan [...]

Incoming US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has added to his DOJ staff three of his former aides from the White House Counsel's office. When he took over earlier this month as Attorney General, Gonzales brought with him Theodore Ullyot, Raul Yanes, and Kyle Sampson, all of whom worked under him for the past four years, [...]

In Monday's environmental law news, a US citizen has settled a claim against Australian home products manufacturer James Hardie Industries for asbestos-related injuries. The confidential settlement is believed to be the first payout from the Australia-founded company (now incorporated in the Netherlands) outside of Australia and New Zealand. The company has an established settlement fund [...]

UK High Court Justice Ronnie Weatherup has dismissed an application by Irish republican party Sinn Fein for a judicial review of the British government's decision to withdraw taxpayer funding of a development grant worth about £100,000 annually after a report released by the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) found that the IRA command, which includes Sinn [...]

Spanish prosecutors are seeking 74,000-year prison terms for each of the three suspects accused of using Spain as a staging ground for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The prison terms correspond to all the charges, including 2,973 murders for those who died in the September 11 attacks. However, Spanish law limits [...]

US District Court Judge William D. Quarles Jr. has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Baltimore Sun challenging on First Amendment grounds an order from Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. which barred thousands of state employees from contact with two Sun journalists. Judge Quarles dismissed the case because the newspaper was seeking more access [...]