Pharmaceutical giant Merck and Co., maker of the recalled pain reliever drug Vioxx, said Monday it had been served a subpoena by the US Department of Justice and that it is also the subject of an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Merck began a voluntary worldwide withdrawal of the drug, which had entered [...]

Judge James Robertson of the US District Court of the District of Columbia has stopped Guantanamo military commission proceedings against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver from 1996 to 2001, on the grounds that they are unlawful as presently constituted (see this previous report in JURIST's Paper Chase). Judge Robertson ruled that [...]

Ex-Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling today filed a motion with US District Judge Sim Lake to move his trial from Houston. Skilling, who hired five experts to examine the publicity of the Enron collapse, asserts Houston-area residents are prejudiced against him and that the city has a personal, emotional and economic stake in the [...]

For the first time in its 214-year history, Pitcairn Island has selected a woman mayor. The island's former mayor Steve Christian was removed following his recent conviction for rape and sex attacks. Christian is one of six men convicted of the crimes who were handed sentences ranging from jail to community service. The new mayor [...]

Three Sikh boys have been expelled from a school outside Paris for breaking the new French law which bans religious items in the classroom. The boys were expelled after months of debate to determine whether turbans were acceptable under the new law. In most schools, Sikhs have reached agreements where they are allowed to wear [...]

Jordan's State Security Court on Monday acquitted four defendants charged with forming a "fighting cell" and planning attacks on Americans and Jews in Jordan. The acquittals were reportedly due to a lack of evidence. Each of the defendants were nonetheless sentenced to one year in prison for possessing illegal weapons; three of them were given [...]

A report by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice released Monday has found that victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks have received $38.1 billion in compensation, mostly from insurance companies. The largest portion of the compensation went to New York City businesses, which received $23.3 billion. Additionally, some lawsuits over the attacks are still [...]

The Swiss government announced Monday that a special prosecutor has been appointed to determine whether government officials in the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office leaked secret information that aided Russia's legal campaign against Yukos, its largest oil company. The Swiss government made the appointment in response to complaints from lawyers defending Yukos that claimed Swiss officials [...]

In Monday's corporations and securities law news, securities regulator National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) has announced that it has brought charges against H&R Block Inc. for fraudulently promoting Enron Corp. bonds to customers just weeks before the energy giant declared bankruptcy in 2001. The company received profits of over $500,000 by allegedly paying its [...]

The European Union filed a complaint Monday with the World Trade Organization against the US and Canada for failing to lift sanctions against the EU over the EU's ban on importing hormone-treated beef. In 1998, the WTO ruled that the EU's beef ban was illegal, and the US and Canada responded with $125 million in [...]