UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has ruled out any possibility of his resignation over the Oil-for-Food scandal currently plaguing the UN. Annan made the statement in an interview on a BBC morning program during which he was questioned about concessions made to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the Oil-for-Food program . Annan said that the [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, Feb. 14. Alberto Gonzales will be sworn in as the nation's 80th Attorney General by President Bush today. C-SPAN has a live webcast of the ceremony beginning at 9:25 AM ET. On Capitol Hill, the US Senate convenes at [...]

Results for 6 Governorates, Kurdistan Assembly and Transitional National Assembly, Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, February 14, 2005 . View the full results . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Israel's cabinet voted Sunday to release 500 Palestinian prisoners in what is being termed a "goodwill gesture" to help build relations with new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The cabinet also agreed to allow over 200 Palestinian laborers to enter from the Gaza Strip for the first time in months.The 500 prisoners are expected to be [...]

Taha al-Amiri, formerly a chief judge at Basra's highest criminal court under Saddam Hussein, was assassinated by two gunmen on his way to work Saturday. Al-Amiri is one of several former Baath party figures to be killed in the last 18 months. Shiite extremists seeking revenge are suspected in the attack; Hussein's regime oppressed Iraq's [...]

Reuters is reporting that the Iraqi election commission has just issued final results from the January 30 vote and that the Shiite Alliance, a grouping of Islamic parties, has come out on top, garnering 47.5% of the vote. Meanwhile, AP has calculated that only 3,775 valid votes were cast in the violence-wracked Sunni province of [...]

A spokesman for the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq said in Baghdad Saturday that the final tally of results from the January 30 election will be announced at 4 PM Sunday local time (8 AM ET); it is expected that they will be published online here. Partial results released previously give the lead to a [...]

Israeli officials Saturday announced plans to repatriate more than 55 Palestinians accused of terror activities who had been deported to the Gaza Strip and Europe during the Palestinian uprising. The announcement follows a Tuesday truce agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that ended four years of fighting in the [...]

Tens of thousands of Russians returned to the streets Saturday to demand the return of the Soviet system of state benefits. Protesters oppose a January 1 law that replaced the medical, housing and transportation benefits traditionally received by millions of Russian pensioners with cash payments. Opponents of the new law, including many Communists , say [...]

The US Department of Labor announced Saturday that retail giant Wal-Mart will pay $135,540 to settle 24 federal child labor law violations. The charges involve teenage workers who used hazardous equipment while working at Wal-Mart stores in Arkansas, Connecticut and New Hampshire. With few exceptions, current federal law prohibits any person under the age of [...]