The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2004, Amnesty International, April 5, 2005 . Excerpt: At least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries in 2004, and at least 7,395 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries, according to Amnesty International. The true figures were certainly higher…. As in previous years, the vast majority of [...]

In Tuesday's environmental law news, as part of a plea bargain with the US Department of Justice , the Taiwanese container shipping company Evergreen International S.A. has agreed to a $25 million fine and pleaded guilty to 24 felony charges for concealing the deliberate, illegal discharge of waste oil into the ocean. In May 2001, [...]

Members of Iraq's National Assembly Tuesday reached agreement on a president and vice presidents for the transitional government. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be named president Wednesday, while Shiite Adel Abdul Mahdi and Sunni Ghazi Yawar will serve as vice presidents, lawmakers said. The agreement signals progress in what has been a politically charged and [...]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that the US will be cautious in deciding on the release of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay on terror suspicions. Rice said the decisions were a "delicate balance" between ensuring US security and avoiding wrongly imprisoning any detainees. Rice said that at least 12 detainees of the [...]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday that the refusal of federal judges to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case will not influence an ongoing struggle between Republicans and Democrats over judicial nominations by President Bush. Frist said that the two issues were not associated and that he felt the judiciary was fair and independent. [...]

The US will phase in by 2008 tighter border controls requiring US citizens re-entering the country from Canada, Mexico, Panama and Bermuda to have passports, US officials announced Tuesday. Under the new rules made public by the State Department , Canadians will also have to show passports to enter the US. Currently, US citizens returning [...]

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 [...]