[JURIST] The US First Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Boston ruled Wednesday that the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, not the local US District Court in San Juan, should rule on a case concerning disputed ballots in the territory's November gubernatorial election. The ruling makes it likely that the winner will be pro-status quo Popular Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Anibal Acevedo Vila, who had been declared in winner after a count that had included so-called double-split ballots marked for one party but favoring different party candidates for governor and resident commissioner (analogous to a Congressman for the territory). Vila's opponent, pro-statehood New Progressive Party (NPP) candidate, Pedro Rossello, a former two-term governor, had opposed the counting of those ballots. The case has been remanded. Read the opinion here. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] In a banner day in telecommunications regulation, the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday voted to lessen the strictness of regulations requiring major telephone carriers to lease lines to competitors at federally-mandated rates, and to facilitate wireless Internet access for airplane travellers, but declined to apply indecency standard to satellite radio broadcasters. Under the new phone line lease rules, narrowly approved by the Commissioners 3-2 along party lines with the Republican majority prevailing, competitors would maintain their access to major carrier lines to serve business customers, but would no longer have rate-guaranteed access to serve the residenial market. Read the FCC news release here [PDF]. Reuters has more. The Commission also voted to allow airlines to use new technology that would enable them to provide Internet access to travellers using seat-back phones (read the FCC release here), and to seek public comment on ending the curent rule against on-board use of cellphones while in the air (see the FCC release here [PDF]). AP has more. In the third action, FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree told Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters Inc. that under current precedent FCC indecency standards did not apply to satellite radio because it is still subscription-based. Again, Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Google's use of trademarked names as keywords to trigger advertising by rival companies is legal, according to a ruling Wednesday by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema. Insurance giant Geico brought suit in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claiming that Google's use of the word "Geico" in keyword advertising violates its trademark and confuses consumers. The ruling is a major coup for Google, as it receives as much as 95 percent of its revenue from the keyword-triggered sponsored ads. CNET News has the full story. Forbes has background on the case.

[JURIST] British Home Secretary David Blunkett (official Home Office biography here), one of the most powerful ministers in the cabinet of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the minister responsible for pushing sweeping anti-terror legislation through the UK Parliament in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, has resigned in the wake of allegations that he improperly used the powers of his office to expedite a visa application by the nanny of his ex-lover. Blunkett has persistently denied the allegations, but resigned after an e-mail from a Home Office civil servant came to light urging subordinates to move the application "slightly faster, but no favours." Most recently Blunkett, described by political opponents as one of the "most authoritarian" home secretaries Britain has ever had, had championed the cause of national ID cards. The prospects for that legislative program in the wake of his departure are uncertain. BBC News has more on the resignation, including a timeline of the visa scandal, and is providing live video coverage.

3:30 PM ET - In a cabinet shuffle prompted by Blunkett's resignation, former Labour Party chairman Charles Clarke has been named as the new Home Secretary. BBC News has more. The BBC has also posted video of a post-resignation interview with Blunkett.

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled Wednesday that it could not hear a case brought by Serbia and Montenegro against eight NATO countries - Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Portugal - in respect of NATO's 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, then led by President Slobodan Milsoevic, now on trial at The Hague for war crimes. The NATO campaign was undertaken in support of a NATO effort to push the Yugoslav army out of Kosovo, where it was said to be engaged in ethnic cleansing operations against Kosovar Albanians. The court said it had no jurisdiction in the case because the antecedent state of Yugoslavia was not an official UN member in 1999 and was not party to the ICJ statute. The court's ruling is not yet available online. Background material on the litigation is available on the ICJ docket list here. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Critics of a new draft Russian anti-terror law said Wednesday that the legislation recently introduced in the Russian parliament by pro-Kremlin legislators in the wake of the Beslan school massacre this fall is far too broad, and is unduly restrictive of public and press freedoms. The 50-page draft authorizes the declaration of a "state of terrorist danger" for up to 60 days anywhere in the country that a terror attack has taken place, or where the government has information, confirmed or unconfirmed, that an attack may take place. If a declaration is made, government authorities are empowered to ban public demonstrations, tap phones, conducting spot street checks and restrict movements of people and traffic. In the event of a terror incident, public information will be provided through a single a designated spokesman for counter-terror operations. Opponents of the legislation call it a "double-edged sword" that could be abused in the wrong hnads, while supporters of the legislation emphasize the overriding importance of public security. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A federal judge in Ohio has ruled that the punch-card voting system used in Ohio in 2004 and, notoriously, in Florida in 2000, does not discriminate against voters using it. The ACLU of Ohio had brought a suit arguing that the punch-card system was more error-prone and discriminated against persons using it, many of whom were black (electronic voting systems being more commonly used in white-dominated counties). Ohio plans to replace punch-card voting machines with electronic voting systems in in all counties in 2005. Read the full text of Judge David Dowd's opinion here [PDF]. AP has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that Time Warner Inc. has agreed to pay a $210 million fine to settle a Justice Department investigation of securities fraud involving its America Online unit.

11:20 AM ET - A full story is now available from AP here.

[JURIST] A circuit court judge in rural Alabama created a constitutional stir Tuesday by wearing a robe embroidered with the text of the Ten Commandments on the bench and insisting on carrying on with a trial despite objections by an attorney appearing before him who said that the display was distracting. Covington County Presiding Circuit Court Judge Ashley McKathan explained that he wanted to honor the truth of the Commandments, that he had paid for the robe himself, and that he had selected a small size for the lettering so that it would not be "in the face" of jurors. McKathan's action immediately reminded observers of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was stripped of office earlier this year by an Alabama judicial ethics board after failing to comply with a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the front hall of the state Judicial Building in Montgomery. Moore told reporters that he supported McKathan's action. From Alabama, the Mobile Register provides local coverage.

[JURIST] The European Parliament in Strasbourg voted Wednesday to support the immediate start of European Commission talks with Turkey that could result in Turkey joining the European Union. The non-binding resolution passed 407-262. The MEPs did, however, insist on closely monitoring Turkey's progress in improving human rights, religious freedom and women's rights, and indicated that talks could be called off if there were problems in these areas. Turkey has similarly indicated that it has concerns, and will not pursue its application if its membership if subject to permanent special conditions. Read the European Parliament's official press release on today's vote here. BBC News has more. The European Union provides background information on Turkey's accession here.

[JURIST] Russian oil giant Yukos, currently caught up in a titanic financial struggle with the Russian government over the payment of back taxes (see a Yukos release on the tax claims here) while its imprisoned former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky is on trial for fraud, has filed for protection with a US bankruptcy court in Texas in a last-ditch bid to stop Russian authorities from selling off its main production arm. The filing is ostensibly problematic as Yukos has no US assets, but a Yukos press release explains: It explains:

The company made the filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. U.S. Bankruptcy law has worldwide jurisdiction over property of the debtor and the Company is seeking a judiciary that will protect the value of all shareholder's investment in Yukos. Houston is a major international oil and gas center. Yukos has assets and business dealings in the area. In addition, the Company's Chief Financial Officer is currently fulfilling his management responsibilities from Houston.

[JURIST] A high level UN panel set up to monitor the administration of the Iraqi oil industry and revenues under Security Council Resolution 1483 [PDF], granting the Coalition Provisional Authority the right to spend from Iraq oil money "in the interests of the Iraqi people", reported Tuesday that it had found "important weaknesses" in program management, including lack of financial controls and inconsistently-applied contracting procedures which resulted in millions of dollars in tenders being awarded to Halliburton and other US companies without competative bid. The International Advisory and Monitoring Board is made of representatives from the United Nations, the Executive Heads of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank; its report also noted that billions of dollars had been lost by oil smuggling and misuse of funds at responsible Iraqi ministries. Read the full text of the Board report here. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] Iraq's Defense Minister said Wednesday that Ali Hassan al-Majid, known in the West as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged responsibility for gassing Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s, will be the first of Saddam Hussein's top aides to go on trial, possibly as early as next week and certainly by January. Ali was captured by US forces in Iraq in August 2003 after several prior reports had circulated of his death in a Coalition bombing raid on Basra. All the evidence and witnesses for his trial are said to be already in place. Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan said the Iraqi government wanted Majid and other Saddam aides to have lawyers - Iraqis or others - to defend them. Reuters has more. Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have repeatedly called for Ali's prosecution.

[JURIST] In a ruling much anticipated by members of the philanthropic community across the United States, a Pennsylvania court has ruled that the private art collection owned by the Barnes Foundation - said by some to the most valuable in the country worth somewhere between $6.5 and $30 billion - may be moved from its current home in suburban Merion, PA to a new location in downtown Philadelphia. Albert Barnes, who died in 1951, had specified that his collection was to remain in Merion, and was to be displayed in a particular fashion, but the court essentially overruled his intentions in the name of preserving the Foundation and the integrity of the collection over the long term. In a press release the Foundations' Board of Trustees expressed "great excitement" over the ruling, which was also applauded by Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell. A group of Barnes Foundation art students who had sought to block the move may yet appeal. The President of the Foundation Board offers his perspective on the move and the circumstances of the Foundation here [PDF]. A 2002 summary of the Foundation's original petition to move is online here. The New York Times has more.