In Wednesday's environmental law news, about 500 Canadian cattlemen, mostly from Alberta, have filed 121 claims under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) seeking at least $325 million in compensation for the May 2003 US decision to halt imports of Canadian beef and cattle. NAFTA's Chapter 11 is intended to protect companies from laws [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has set aside the 1988 child-molestation conviction of a Nevada man, ruling that the 2004 US Supreme Court decision in Crawford v. Washington limiting hearsay statements applies retroactively and statements made by the 6-year-old victim to authorities should not have been introduced at trial. The Second [...]

Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky will testify Friday in his fraud and tax evasion trial. According to the latest trial update from Khodorkovsky's defense website, the judge presiding over the trial has granted a recess until Friday morning to allow Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev more time to prepare for their testimony. In a [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia unveiled charges Wednesday against retired General Rasim Delic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Muslim army during the 1992-95 conflict. Delic, who is expected to surrender to the tribunal next week, faces charges for the murder and rape of Croats and Serbs by fighters under his command [...]

Eleven sitting and former in northern New Jersey's Monmouth County were arrested and charged Tuesday as part of a federal corruption sting. Ten of the officials were charged with extorting cash bribes and free work from a contractor working undercover for the FBI. The eleventh official faces money laundering charges. According to Christopher Christie , [...]

In a decision handed down Wednesday morning, the US Supreme Court has ruled that state prisons cannot temporarily segregate inmates by race, except in the most extraordinary circumstances. In Johnson v. California , the court heard an Equal Protection challenge to the California Department of Corrections' policy of racially segregating prisoners in double cells for [...]

According to a special report published in Wednesday's Guardian, British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned the government less than two weeks before the 2003 invasion of Iraq that the military actions could be ruled illegal. Lord Goldsmith's warning led the government to assemble a team of lawyers to prepare for legal action in an international [...]

Two British soldiers were convicted Wednesday of abusing Iraqi prisoners at a camp outside Basra in May 2003. Daniel Kenyon, the most senior soldier on trial at the UK court-martial, was convicted of failing to report the actions of junior soldiers and for aiding and abetting an assault on an Iraqi prisoner. Mark Cooley was [...]

Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, Fannie Mae's federal regulator, Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) , has found additional problems with the company's accounting practices. The OFHEO has raised concerns with the company's securities and loan accounting, consolidations, accounting for commitments and practices to smooth certain income and expense accounts. Fannie Mae [...]

Lord Falconer , the Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom and the nation's highest legal officer, issued a written statement Wednesday that he was satisfied that the Marriage Act of 1949 allowed for the Royal Family to have civil ceremony weddings. Some doubt had been raised by BBC's Panorama program that the Royal Family was [...]