[JURIST] The French newspaper Liberation said Friday that an unpublished UN report it has obtained catalogues a plethora of major rights abuses in the conflict-wracked African state of Cote d'Ivoire over the past two years, including mass execution, torture and rape of women and children. The report says that many offenses were filmed by French and UN peacekeepers and contains a "secret" list of 200 individuals who could be subject to war crimes charges, general prosecution or UN sanctions. The Liberation article in French is here. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] NATO troops Friday arrested former Bosnian Serb policeman Dusan Tesic for allegedly assisting suspected war crimes fugitives. NATO believes Tesic has information on a network that helps fugitives evade the law. NATO did not release the names of those Tesic is believed to have aided; he was previously detained for questioning regarding Bosnian-Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who have been indicted by the international war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Puerto Rican election authorities have announced Anibal Acevedo Vila, the Popular Democratic Party's candidate, as the country's new governor following a recount of the November 2nd election. The election results are expected to be officially certified on Tuesday. Acevedo Villa won by 3,228 votes from the nation's 4 million residents. As reported previously in JURIST's Paper Chase, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Wednesday refused former governor Pedro Rossello's request for a rehearing. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Republicans in Washington state Friday asked county auditors to reconsider ballots that were rejected on election day in the state's tight race for governor, a quick move in the wake of Thursday's final recount tally that awarded the race to Democrat Christine Gregoire by 130 votes. Republican candidate Dino Rossi said Thursday that Washingtonians deserve a clean election and a legitimate governor-elect, but claimed that residents had received neither. It has yet to be determined whether any auditor in the state will allow counting of the rejected ballots, which quite possibly were properly rejected. Republicans still have other options, including an election challenge in the state courts or before the state legislature. AP has more.

[JURIST] Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, has denied that Iraq used the UN oil-for-food program to extort billions of dollars according to lawyer Badih Aref, speaking Friday for Aziz after having been allowed to meet him for the first time Thursday in Baghdad. Aref quoted Aziz as saying:

We used to offer assistance to parties, institutions and states that stood by Iraq. We helped them via the United Nations because the oil-for-food program was a legitimate program supervised by the UN. This cannot be considered bribery because it was our right to sell oil to those who wanted it and we could not affect the price at all, as it was set by the United Nations itself.

[JURIST] A Beijing court spokesman announced Friday that the court had ruled against the Chongqing Lifan Industry Group, which must stop selling lookalike Honda brand motorbikes and must pay the Japanese Honda Motor Company 1.47 million yuan ($177,600 USD) in compensation. Analysts say that China is taking a tougher stand on intellectual property rights and, in the face of international sanctions, is beginning to enforce international standards. China has been rampant with intellectual property piracy, but several court rulings in the past week have given copyright and patent holders renewed hope:

• the copyright to cartoon comic character Garfield was upheld Tuesday;
• also Tuesday, the Lego Company had its building-block toys protected; and
  
• rights to Peter Rabbit were enforced on Thursday in a dispute as to whether the rights still belonged to a British firm or had expired 50 years after the author's 1943 death.

[JURIST] President Bush has signed into law a bill that permits the imposition of US sanctions on Sudan in response to the violence in Darfur, which the US has on several occasions characterized as genocide. The legislation, passed by Congress in early December, also freezes Sudanese assets and applies a US travel ban against Sudanese leaders. Review the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act 2004 [PDF]. VOA has more.

[JURIST] Russian state oil company Rosneft announced Thursday that it had bought 100% of Baikal Finance Group, the mysterious entity that last weekend purchased the production arm of Russian oil giant Yukos for over $9B despite temporary restraining order from a US bankruptcy court. The Rosneft purchase effectively expropriates the core of Yukos, from which the Russian government is seeking to recover over $27B in back taxes while it prosecutes former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky for tax fraud. BizWorld has more. Russian President Vladimir Putin once again defended the roundabout deal in a year-end Kremilin press conference:

Now regarding the acquisition by Rosneft of the well-known asset of the company – I do not remember its exact name – is it Baikal Investment Company? Essentially, Rosneft, a 100% state owned company, has bought the well-known asset Yuganskneftegaz. That is the story. In my view, everything was done according to the best market rules. As I have said, I think it was at a press conference in Germany, a state-owned company or, rather companies with 100% state capital, just as any other market players, have the right to do so and, as it emerged, exercised it.

[JURIST] After hearing two days of oral argument on the constitutionality of California same-sex marriages, Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer asked Thursday for written arguments to be submitted to him by January 14. After submission, he will have up to 90 days to make a ruling in the case, which could take it into April and in any case is likely to be appealed. AP has more.