"Gross violations of fundamental human rights" are continuing in post-Taliban Afghanistan, according to the report [PDF] of an independent expert appointed by UN Secretary-General Annan. The report, submitted by M. Cherif Bassiouni, details extrajudicial executions to inhuman detention to the frequent abuse or assault of women and girls, and is based on meetings with a variety of government officials (Afghan and foreign ministers), human rights agencies, NGOs, individual human rights activists, and an 8 day trip to Afghanistan in mid August. Bassiouni's recommendations for ameliorating the situation include increasing the number of foreign troops in the country, reducing opium and child trafficking, developing a system of land titling, and prohibiting warlords and drug lords from assuming public office. The UN has more.

Violent crime in the United States is down 25 percent from a decade ago, according to the FBI annual uniform crimes report released Monday. Read the full text of Crime in the United States, 2003 [PDF]. The report, compiled from data submitted by over 17,000 law enforcement agencies representing 93% of the US population, tracks violent and property crime in the US. Violent crime, consisting of murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, was down 3 percent in volume from 2002 and 25.6 percent compared to 1994. Property crime, comprised of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft, was down 0.2 percent in volume from 2002 and 14 percent compared to 1994. The FBI press release is here. At the Department of Justice, Attorney General John Ashcroft welcomed the new statistics with this statement.

In Monday's corporations and securities law news, the NASD has announced that Citigroup has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle allegations of using misleading sales material on hedge funds. Tomorrow the SEC is expected to announce new oversight for hedge funds. Read the NASD press release here. AP has more. Citigroup also issued an apology Monday for breakdown of its corporate governance, compliance and internal control systems related to its private banking business in Japan. The group announced a wide-ranging plan to regain the trust of financial regulators and the public. Read more about the plan here [PDF]. The Financial Times has more.

In other news, in what will become the world's largest steel company, Laksmi Mittal, the Indian entrepreneur, announced the merger of his existing assets in Ispat and LNM with US-based International Steel Group. The deal worth $17 billion will create a new company known as Mittal Steel. Read the Mittal press release here [PDF]. The company also had a webcast which can be viewed here. The Financial Times has more.... The SEC, in its financial-services industry conflicts probe, is finding indications that mutual fund companies paid retirement-plan consultants for a recommendation to the consultants' clients. Dow Jones has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, antitrust regulators in the Justice Department have approved the proposed acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. by Cingular Wireless LLC. AP has more. Read Cingular's press release announcing the deal here and more information on the new company. Read the Department of Justice press release here.... The Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official has demanded an investigation into a Halliburton Co. subsidiary which the official claims unfairly won no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for support services in Iraq and the Balkans. Reuters has more.... Marsh & McLennan Cos. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Greenberg resigned only eleven days after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's complaint [PDF] against the company was announced. Greenberg is being replaced by Michael Cherkasky, formerly of Kroll Inc. Read the Marsh press release here. Bloomberg has more.... As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, the EU announced today that it would suspend sanctions on US imports after President Bush signed a tax reform bill last week which ended illegal export subsidies. Reuters has more.

Ohio Republicans, who on Friday had filed 35,000 voter registration challenges in 65 of Ohio's 88 counties (see previous report on JURIST's Paper Chase), today withdrew thousands of those challenges. The withdrawal came after they discovered errors in their filings apparently caused by a computer glitch. The party had already withdrawn about 7,500 challenges over the weekend because the names and addresses on the GOP list did not match voter rolls. However, the largest batch of challenges, 17,000 in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, were found to have had no errors and are still being processed. According to an election director in Hamilton County, a new challenge cannot be mounted because it is too late under the governing statute. Read more about the Ohio Republican party's voter fraud initiative here. AP has more.

Antitrust regulators in the Justice Department have approved the proposed acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. by Cingular Wireless LLC. Cingular's $41 billion acquisition will create the nation's largest wireless telephone company. The FCC is expected to approve the merger as early as Tuesday. Under the agreement with regulators announced Monday, Cingular must divest itself of assets in eleven states. Read AT&T's letter to its customers regarding the merger here [PDF]. Read Cingular's press release announcing the deal here and more information on the new company. Read the Department of Justice press release here. AP has more.

The British government indicated Monday that it will be presenting a new law to Parliament which will entitle juries in child sex abuse and theft cases to know whether defendants have any prior convictions for similar offenses. At present juries are rarely told of previous convictions because of a fear that such knowledge will hinder a defendant's right to fair trial. Prime Minister Tony Blair said the new rule is "designed to make it clear that we're not going to have people playing the system and getting away with criminal offenses that cause real misery." Human rights activists argue the changes are dangerous and will take away a defendant's right to a fair trial. Read the Home Office press release announcing the proposed legislation here. BBC News has more.

Florida will not be required to create a paper record backup of results for electronic touch-screen voting machines, a federal judge ruled Monday. US District Judge James I. Cohn dismissed the case brought by US Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla), after hearing three days of testimony. In the court's written opinion, Judge Cohn concludes, "[N]o voting system is perfect. Distrust in an electorate's ability to properly use new technology does not give rise to an equal protection violation." AP has more. On October 14, Florida issued a rule establishing a system of manual recounts. Wexler argued that recounts are not possible for the paperless machines, because there are no documents to recount by hand.

The US Supreme Court has announced that Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, was hospitalized over the weekend for treatment of thyroid cancer. Rehnquist underwent a tracheotomy to allow him to breathe. The Court expected Rehnquist to be released from Bethesda Naval Hospital this week, and to preside over the court's session next Monday. MSNBC has more.

UPDATE: The Supreme Court press release is now online here.

In the wake of President Bush's signing of a tax reform bill last week, the EU announced today that it would suspend sanctions on US imports. In January 2003, the WTO ruled that US subsidies to exporters were illegal. The EU responded by imposing import tariffs on certain US goods. The tax reform bill signed by President Bush last week ends these illegal export subsidies. "Legally speaking we will suspend the sanctions and we will keep our options open," said EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy.

The US District Court for the District of Columbia is hearing arguments today by defense lawyers for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base challenging the constitutionality of the military commissions before which they will be tried. The New York Times reports on the problems encountered by the military tribunal system so far. In over two years, no detainee has yet been prosecuted. The first two trials are scheduled for this winter.

South Africa's Cape High Court ruled Monday that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will be allowed to televise court proceedings in the case against Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher, who has been charged in connection with a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, is due in court Tuesday to challenge the validity of a subpoena compelling him to answer questions from EG prosecutors. The South African Press Association has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Thatcher appeals subpoena to answer Equatorial Guinea questions
• Thatcher to be questioned by Equatorial Guinea in coup case
• South Africans lay mercenary charges against 2, consider allowing Thatcher to be questioned by Equatorial Guinea
• Zimbabwe convicts mercenary leader in Equatorial Guinea coup; EG government seeks extradition of Thatcher
• Thatcher son arrested in connection with Equatorial Guinea coup plot

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously overturned the state's hate crimes law Monday, calling it "unconstitutionally vague." Georgia's statute requires stiffer penalties when a defendant selects a victim because of bias or prejudice. In its opinion, the court wrote:

We recognize that persons of ordinary intelligence may understand the dictionary definition of the words "bias" and "prejudice." However, because of the broad signification of these words and the absence of any specific context in which a person's bias or prejudice may apply in order to narrow the construction of these concepts, we find that OCGA § 17-10-17 fails to provide fair warning of the conduct it prohibits. Unlike the statute addressed in Mitchell, supra, which singled out for enhancement specific bias-inspired conduct "thought to inflict greater individual and societal harm" based on the perceived harm that results from crimes motivated by these prejudices, e.g., the greater likelihood that bias-motivated crimes will "provoke retaliatory crimes, inflict distinct emotional harms on their victims, and incite community unrest," id., 508 U.S. at 487-488, the broad language in OCGA § 17-10-17, by enhancing all offenses where the victim or his property was selected because of any bias or prejudice, encompasses every possible partiality or preference. A rabid sports fan convicted of uttering terroristic threats to a victim selected for wearing a competing team's baseball cap; a campaign worker convicted of trespassing for defacing a political opponent's yard signs; a performance car fanatic convicted of stealing a Ferrari -- any "bias or prejudice" for or against the selected victim or property, no matter how obscure, whimsical or unrelated to the victim it may be, but for which proof beyond a reasonable doubt might exist, can serve to enhance a sentence. Absent some qualification on "bias or prejudice," OCGA § 17-10-17 is left "'so vague that persons of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.'" Payne v. State, 275 Ga. 181, 183 (563 SE2d 844) (2002). Accordingly, we hold that OCGA § 17-10-17 is too vague to justify the imposition of enhanced criminal punishment for its violation.

The African Union-hosted peace talks on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur began Monday in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja. This is the second round of talks hosted by the AU; the first round ended in September with no agreement being reached concerning the crisis. The talks were slated to begin last Thursday, but delays in the travel arrangements of delegates caused the talks to be pushed back. Negotiators include the offical government representative of the Sudan, as well as representatives from the major rebel groups currently engaged in combat in the Darfur region. Each side has accused the other of breaking a cease-fire agreement reached in April of 2004. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the legal issues in the Darfur crisis. The Sudan Tribune has more.... European Union ministers announced Monday that they have reached a common agreement on an asylum policy for the EU. The regional organization had been struggling with different opinions on the way to best address the influx of refugees and illegal immigrants to the relatively safe EU states. The dispute was highlighted by the actions taken by Italy recently in shipping thousands of refugees off of the island of Lampedusa and back to Libya in North Africa (JURIST's Paper Chase has background). The approved plan, known as the Hague Programme, is slated for formal adoption at an EU summit in November; it sets common guidelines for admission and deportation policies, and creates an equal distribution framework for refugees granted admittance to the EU. The proposals of the plan are subject to a majority vote, meaning no single member may veto the provision. BBC News has more.... The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced that it will present evidence to the UN Security Council Monday of nearly 380 tons of high yield explosives that went missing from an IAEA secured site near Baghdad. The explosives can be used for high yield conventional bombs, or for triggering the implosion needed to create a nuclear bomb. The IAEA claims that it has been unable to monitor the explosives, stored at the al-Qaqaa complex near Baghdad, due to the security restrictions put in place by the US military. JURIST's Paper Chase has background in IAEA concerns. CNN has more.... Iran announced Sunday that it has rejected a plan presented by Britain, Germany, and France to supply Iran with the nuclear fuel necessary to run nuclear power plants in order to avoid Iran developing the capability of producing its own nuclear fuel. The IAEA and the European Union have expressed concern that Iran's nuclear fuel program might be used to create material that could be used in creating a nuclear weapon. Iran has protested the intrusion into its internal affairs, saying that it has an 'international right to develop a domestic source of nuclear fuel.' In a meeting with Iran's Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, South African Ambassador to Iran Yusuf Saloojee said that the IAEA should close its case file on Iran 'and thus solve the problem.' The Tehran Times has more on the meeting. The Guardian has more on Iran's official statement.

Following up on a story reported yesterday on JURIST's Paper Chase, several US senators have responded to a report that the CIA secretly moved prisoners out of Iraq in possible violation of international treaties by calling for compliance with the Geneva Conventions. According to a Washington Post report, the Justice Department drafted a March 2004 memo authorizing the CIA to take prisoners out of Iraq for interrogation for a "brief but not indefinite period." Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden reacted to the report by calling for new leadership at the Justice Department. AP has more.

Five Pitcairn Island men, including the island's mayor, were convicted Monday on multiple sexual abuse charges, including rape and indecent assault of girls as young as 12. A sixth man pleaded guilty and a seventh was cleared of the charges. The court rejected arguments that consensual underage sex was part of the British colony's tradition. On appeal, lawyers are expected to argue that the British government does not have jurisdiction over the island. Listen to recorded audio of an interview with Bryan Nicholson, from the UK High Commission in New Zealand (interview on BBC's Today Programme). BBC News has more. The New Zealand Herald has background on the island and on the trial.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Pitcairn men allowed to challenge UK sovereignty
• Pitcairn mayor pleads not guilty to rape
• Pitcairn trials delayed; women defend suspects
• Pitcairn Island sex trial slated for Monday could destroy Bounty mutineers community

Bill Cowles, Orange County Supervisor of Elections, has threatened to shut down early voting sites in the Florida county, accusing overzealous campaign supporters and the media of "creating havoc" for voters and poll workers at sites. Similar problems have been reported in Palm Beach County where elections officials are considering closing one or more of the county's early voting sites. Florida law prohibits solicitation by campaign supporters within 50 feet of the entrance to a polling place on the day of "any election," but Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood has said that early voting sites are exempt from the 50-foot rule because the sites are in government buildings to which the public must have access. Monday's Palm Beach Post has more.... South Dakota's legislative leaders will decide Monday whether to appeal a September ruling by US District Judge Karen Schreier that the state violated the federal Voting Rights Act by packing Indian voters into a single legislative district. Although Judge Schreier declared the voting districts illegal, she did not ordered the districts to be changed before next week's general election. The ACLU has Judge Schreier's opinion here (scroll down). AP has more.

UPDATE: Florida Governor Jeb Bush has responded to Orange County Election Supervisor Cowles' concern with a letter urging him and others in similar positions to remove people intimidating or interfering with voters. AP has more.

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Monday, October 25.

Early voting begins today in Georgia.... Today is the deadline for voter registration in Utah and Vermont.

The US House and Senate are in recess until Tuesday, November 16.

At the United Nations, the Security Council will hold closed consultations at 10 AM ET on the Central African Republic. The Security Council will then hold a 3 PM ET closed meeting with troop-contributing countries to the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.

European Union justice and home affairs ministers will meet Monday to discuss the EU's justice and home affairs program for the next five years. Read the provisional agenda and background [PDF] provided by the Dutch EU presidency. EUobserver.com has more.

In Israel, the Knesset Monday begins two days of debate on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. A vote on a proposed compensation bill is scheduled for late Tuesday. Watch a live webcast of today's Knesset session, beginning at 10 AM ET (4 PM in Israel). The Jerusalem Post has more.