[JURIST] In Tuesday's environmental law news, chemical manufacturer W.R. Grace and Co. [corporate website] and some of its executive employees have been charged by federal prosecutors with 3 counts of violating the Clean Air Act [EPA text], 4 counts of obstruction of justice, 2 counts of wire fraud and 1 count of conspiracy. The charges stem from an investigation into asbestos pollution at a Grace-owned mine in Libby, Montana, which is now a Superfund site. W.R. Grace has issued a statement on the indictment [PDF]. The Washington Post has more.

In other news,

• The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement [official website] (OSM) seeks comments on proposed amendments [text] to the Illinois regulatory program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act [text] (SMCRA). Among other changes, the amendments will clarify the requirements for subsidence control and update procedures for relocating or closing public roads. Comments can be made here until March 10. Requests for a public hearing on the amendments can be made here until February 23.
  
  
• The OSM also seeks comments on proposed amendments [text] to the Iowa regulatory program under SMCRA [text] that would remove one of the ways to gauge revegetation success. Comments can be made here until March 10. Requests for a public hearing can be made here until February 23.
  
  
• The National Marine Fisheries Service [official website] seeks comments on the proposed 2005 Atlantic bluefish fishery regulations [text]. The agency's rule follows the regulations prepared by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Comments can be made here until February 23.

[JURIST] A former Enron [JURIST Hot Topic] assistant treasurer reached an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] to settle civil fraud charges stemming from the corporation's collapse for $300,000, the SEC announced Tuesday. Timothy DeSpain served with the corporation from 1999 to 2002 during which time Enron failed to disclose $5 billion in debt. DeSpain will also be barred from serving as a director or officer of a public company under the settlement. In October 2004, DeSpain pleaded guilty [DOJ press release] to criminal fraud charges. Former Enron CFO Raymond Bowen also reached a settlement [Houston Chronicle report] with the SEC Monday for $500,000. Bowen has not been criminally charged in the case. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Sudan's vice president maintained his government's opposition [JURIST report] to any international criminal trials for war crimes committed in the Darfur region during a meeting with the UN Security Council [official website] Tuesday on Sudan [JURIST Countries]. Vice President Ali Osman Taha and rebel leader John Garang briefed the Security Council on a peace agreement reached last month between northern and southern territories in the county, a separate conflict from that in Darfur. Taha, in addressing calls for international courts to handle the situation in Darfur, said that Sudan's own courts would be adequate and that international involvement could prevent reconciliation. However, UN envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk said the situation was worse [UN report] than Taha claimed, and that continued violence in Darfur could threaten the separate peace agreement between north and south. Read a UN press release on the meeting. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan [official website] filed suit Tuesday against 48 drug manufacturers, alleging fraud that cost Illinois residents hundreds of millions in a lawsuit similar to those filed by 19 other states. The drug companies, which include Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, have been accused of publishing wholesale prices higher than those it actually charged, allowing health care companies to be compensated by the government for the listed prices. Madigan's office has a press release on the suit. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The government's main witness in the criminal case against former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers testified Tuesday, directly linking Ebbers to the fraud and countering defense arguments that Ebbers did not understand the accounting schemes involved. Former CFO Scott Sullivan said Ebbers had a thorough understanding of the practices the corporation was engaging in and that he focused on financial market expectations of WorldCom [now MCI, Inc.]. Sullivan described Ebbers as a hands-on manager and said he had Ebbers' consent when he falsified company financial statements, ultimately leading to the $11 billion fraud scandal and the corporation's collapse. The defense has argued that Ebbers was unaware of the fraud and did not follow the company's accounting. Sullivan previously pleaded guilty in the case in return for consideration of his cooperation when he is sentenced. Read Ebbers indictment [text, PDF] and the superseding indictment [text, PDF]. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Kuwati Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah on Tuesday warned newspapers that publishing information about investigations of militants could result in the suspension or closure of those papers. Sheikh Sabah's commented that journalistic scoops could endanger security personnel and help fugitives. Kuwait's 1961 Press And Publishing Law, [State Department report] which has been opposed by civil rights activists, gives the government the right to shut down newspapers. Specifically, the law prohibits the publication of material that spreads incitement of violence or dissention among the public. In addition, the government has announced that unlicensed mosques would be shut down and textbooks inciting religious hatred would be banned, as the government launches a crackdown on Islamic extremism. On Sunday, the Kuwaiti government began blocking access to extremist websites. BBC has more. The Kuwait Times has local coverage of the crackdown. [English version]

[JURIST] Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien [CBC News profile] testified Tuesday before a judicial commission of inquiry [Gomery Commission website] as part of an ongoing government investigation into a national unity program that resulted in $100 million in contracts being awarded to advertising firms with close ties to Chrétien's Liberal Party, with little return. No Canadian prime minister has testified before such an inquiry since Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, appeared before a commission in the midst of an 1873 railway scandal. Chrétien said Tuesday he "regrets" any mistakes that resulted from the program, which was launched to increase unity in the wake of an unsettling 1995 referendum on separation for Quebec. He defended the program, though, calling it necessary to forestall another referendum. On Thursday Chretien will be followed to the stand by current Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website], who launched the inquiry in February 2004. Martin was finance minister when the program was launched. CBC News has in-depth coverage of the Gomery inquiry. CTV News has more.

[JURIST] The European Union issued a draft document on Tuesday regarding the proliferation of digital rights management (DRM), often used to protect copyrighted software and music files. The EU's advisory body on data protection and privacy is specifically concerned about the way that DRM can be used to identify individuals and thus track people. For example, when a music track is purchased online, the purchaser may have to enter account information and a unique identifier. The information gained about identity and musical taste is then used to target marketing campaigns. Another concern cited by the EU is the issue of ISPs giving identity information about individual file sharers to record industries who may then pursue legal action. The public has until March 31 to comment on the document. [PDF] CNET has more.

[JURIST] The US State Department Tuesday sharply criticized the selection of Cuba and Zimbabwe for positions on a panel that will set the agenda for the UN Human Rights Commission. "The United States believes that countries that routinely and systematically violate the rights of their citizens should not be selected to review the human rights performance of other countries," State Department press office Tom Casey said. During her confirmation hearing last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [White House bio] listed Cuba and Zimbabwe among six "outposts of tyranny." [AP transcript] The State Department did not comment on the selection of Saudia Arabia, often a target of human rights concerns, to the panel. The Cuban government fired back, as Cuba's official news agency, AIN, pointed out that among the cases being considered by the UN commission are "the well documented atrocities committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, particularly the brutal procedures used against prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail and at the prison camp set up at the illegal U.S. naval base located in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo." AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC [official website] has indicted television financial commentator and investment adviser Courtney Smith over his alleged role in a stock manipulation scheme. According to the SEC complaint, the head of GenesisIntermedia, Inc. paid Smith approximately $1.1 million in cash and stock to talk up GenesisIntermedia shares on television. The company's shares plunged to pennies per share in September 2001 which led to the bankruptcy of three brokerage firms and largest bailout in the history of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation [official website]. Read the SEC litigation release and complaint [PDF]. CNN has more.

In other news...

• Buca Inc. [corporate website], a Minneapolis-based Italian restaurant chain, announced the SEC has started a formal investigation into alleged violations of federal securities laws at the company. Buca believes the probe is related to an internal investigation at the company which revealed former chairman and CEO Joe Micatrotto used company money for personal and other unauthorized purposes. Read the Buca press release announcing the probe. The Twin Cities Business Journal has more.
  
  
• A federal grand jury in Montana has indicted W.R. Grace & Co. and seven current and former company officials on charges that they knew that a Montana mine contaminated employees, their families, and the public with a toxic form of asbestos. The asbestos has claimed more than 200 lives. W.R. Grace released a statement [PDF] denied any criminal wrongdoing. Read the indictment [PDF]. AP has more.
  
  
• Wet Seal [corporate website], a mall-based clothing chain, announced the SEC has started an informal inquiry into the company related to the recent sale of the company's stock by La Senza [corporate website], a Canadian retailer whose chairman and chief executive, Irv Teitelbaum, resigned as Wet Seal's chairman last August. Read the Wet Seal press release. The Street.com has more.
  
  
• The SEC has started an investigation into New York-based hedge fund Ardent Capital Management [corporate website] to determine whether millions of dollars were stolen from it. AFX has more.
  
  
• Citigroup's [corporate website] controversial eurozone government bond trades, which is being targeted by several European watchdogs, has led to calls for new Europe-wide regulations in the bond market. The calls come after the leak of an internal Citigroup memo which outlined a plan to kill off smaller rivals by destablizing the eurozone government bond futures market. The Financial Times has more.

[JURIST] In Tuesday's international brief, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [official profile] and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today announced a truce between Israelis and Palestinians. The announcement came at the end of Tuesday's summit at Sharm al-Sheikh, which was also attended by Jordanian King Abdullah II and hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Although no formal document was signed [PNN report], the terms of the cease-fire were announced as a cessation of all violence by Palestinians everywhere, and the ending of all Isreali military actions targetting Palestinians. Sharon also said that the two discussed the security concerns for the return of contested areas in places like the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Both leaders acknowledged that terrorist and insurgent attacks could threaten the process, and called for their people to be willing to allow time for the truce to take effect. Read the text of Sharon's speech [official text]. The Jerusalem Post has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The Sudan People's Liberation Movement [political party website] opened the first official government offices in what will become the capital city of an autonomous South Sudan. Juba is a southern Sudanese town that had been under military control of the Sudan government [official website]. The SPLM had maintained a covert presence there throughout the two decade civil war, but the rebel movement had constantly lost members to Sudanese military operations in the area. On Tuesday, SPLM officials opened government offices in the town under the new South Sudan flag. While Rumbek is currently the base of government operations in the newly autonomous South, the SPLM plans to eventually make Juba the capital city. The Sudan Tribune has local coverge.
  
  
• Two high ranking members of the ruling party in Zimbabwe [government website] were sentenced Tuesday on charges of selling intelligence information to a foreign nation. The two men, both members of Zanu PF [political party website], the party headed by Zimbabwian President Robert Mugabe, pleaded guilty to the charges in their first court appearance on December 24, 2004. They later claimed the confessions resulted from duress, but were unable to overturn the entrance of the pleas. The court issued sentences, which could reach 20 years incarceration, behind closed doors and ordered counsel not to discuss the sentences with the media. Zimbabwe has alleged that South Africa funded the captured intelligence agent that will be tried later and is accussed of bribing the two Zanu PF officials. News24.com has local coverage.
  
  
• An appeal panel of the Russian Supreme Court [official website in Russian] denied a motion Monday to overturn the 2003 parliamentary elections for the State Duma [government website in Russian]. Members of the Communist and Yabloko parties have challenged the 2003 elections as being unconstitutional due to a lack of information given to voters, along with other infractions of election law. The Russian Supreme Court had previously ruled against a similar motion from the plaintiffs, who had then appealed. MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] Delegates from 50 countries, including terrorism-affected countries such as Syria and Iran, endorsed a Saudi proposal for an international counter-terrorism center Tuesday, although details regarding its location, funding, and role remain unclear. A draft declaration from the Counter-Terrorism International Conference [official website] in Riyadh called for the establishment of "an International Counter-Terrorism Center staffed by experts ... in order to share real-time information to adequately prevent attacks." Many delegates, while supporting the measure, expressed doubt that creation of such an center would actually come to pass. One hurdle is finding a way for intelligence agencies to agree to pool operational information with a large number of other countries. Despite the serious practical problems faced, delegates saw the conference as an important signal that Saudi Arabia is committed to fighting terrrorism both at home and abroad. US Homeland Security advisor Frances Townsend [White House profile], who leads the US delegation, merely said that anything done to increase sharing of counter-terrorism intelligence "is a net gain." Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US has agreed to transfer the last three French citizens being held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST Hot Topic] to France, with an official announcement of the agreement expected later Tuesday. The remaining detainees are Mustaq Ali Patel, Ridouane Khalid and Khaled Ben Mustafa, who have been held by the US since being arrested in 2001 and 2002 in Afghanistan. The US transferred four French detainees last summer, and they remain in the custody of the French government, which is investigating terror links. The US also transferred several Australian and British detainees last month. The agreement in principle was announced before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to meet with French President Jacques Chirac later today. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Judge Michael Chertoff has been confirmed by the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee [official website], with a vote by the full Senate expected before the end of the week. Chertoff was confirmed by a vote of 14 in favor and one present. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) [official website], the sole senator voting present, said he could not support Chertoff's nomination without more information on a memo by Chertoff [JURIST report] advising the CIA on the use certain torture techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Read Committee Chairman Susan Collins' statement on the confirmation. The Newark Star-Ledger has more.

[JURIST] The introduction of a bill that would replace lawsuits against asbestos manufacturers with a $140 billion compensation fund will be delayed for another week, according to the legislation's author, PA Sen. Arlen Specter [official website]. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Judiciary Committee members asked for an additional week to review the bill, which was previously delayed due to objections by Senate Democrats. Specter has sought bipartisan support [JURIST report] for the bill, but both sides have expressed concerns. Some Republicans have argued the medical criteria to qualify for compensation were too weak. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The US remains undecided on whether to support a UN resolution on China's human rights violations, despite new evidence of improvement by the country, a US embassy spokeswoman has said. The resolution is expected to be considered at the meeting of the UN High Commission for Human Rights [official website] next month, as many Western governments have urged China to show improvement and openness. China recently released a list of 56 political prisoners to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation [official website], and provided information on other prisoners [text, PDF] to the group, which seeks to facilitate US-Chinese dialogue. Among the prisoners are Tibetans and Tiananmen Square protesters, and China listed 51 as being up for sentence reductions or having already received one. Dui Hua has more on the prisoners. US officials would not say whether they believed the releases were an attempt by the Chinese government to win favor before the March human rights summit. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The White House has warned senators to pass a class action bill without changes as they began debate on the bill. S. 5 [bill summary], which would transfer most interstate class actions to federal courts, also enjoys broad support in the House, which promised to pass the legislation and send it to President Bush if the Senate made no changes. In a statement Monday, the White House called for the "swift passage" of the bill in its current form. However, a proposed amendment by NM Sen. Jeff Bingaman [official website] that would lessen impact on consumer lawsuits has gained momentum during Senate debate. Watch a live webcast of the Senate debate today via C-SPAN 2. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Judge Theodor Meron, president judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST Hot Topic], has ruled that two British lawyers appointed to represent former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST Newsmaker] may not withdraw from the case, despite Milosevic's refusal to cooperate and insistence on representing himself. The ruling was released Tuesday as the trial resumed after being cancelled for several days as Milosevic recovered from the flu. Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins were appointed to represent Milosevic last year due to his poor health, but he later won back his right to self-representation. The two attorneys were to remain as standby counsel, however. The war crimes trial of the central figure in the fall of Yugoslavia during the 1990s has been plagued by delays due to Milosevic's ailing health and refusal to cooperate, and it will reach the two-year mark at the end of this week. Read the court's full ruling [text]. An ICTY press release is available. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Indonesian prosecutors presenting their case against Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir [BBC News profile] asked a court Tuesday to sentence him to eight years in prison for terror charges, including a link to the 2002 Bali bombings. Prosecutors' sentence request was much lower than the maximum available, which would have been the death penalty, leading some to question Indonesia's commitment to prosecuting suspected terrorists. Bashir, 66, is accused of inciting the bombings in Bali that left 202 dead, and he is accused of involvement with a bombing in Jakarta in 2003 that killed 12. He has maintained his innocence throughout the trial [BBC News backgrounder], which began in October. Reuters has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Indonesian court throws out Bashir suit against magazine
• Indonesian cleric calls terror charges a "joke"
• Indonesian cleric goes on trial for hotel bombing
• Muslim cleric Bashir charged in Bali bombings

[JURIST] A spokesman for Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [official website, English version] said Tuesday that Sistani is not demanding that Iraq's new constitution be based solely on Islamic sharia law [Wikipedia article]. Sistani's spokesman said "Sistani reiterates his previous positions that the constitution should respect the Islamic cultural identity of the Iraqi people." Tuesday's statement is meant to refute reports that Shiite clerics are calling for Islamic law to be the sole source [JURIST report] of legislation for Iraq's new constitution, which will be drafted by members of the Transitional National Assembly, chosen in the recent Iraqi elections [JURIST Hot Topic archive]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) [official website] has given permission to Professor Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly the sheep [Wikipedia article], a license to clone human embryos for medical research, only the second time the authority has given consent for therapeutic cloning [BBC News Q&A; JURIST report on HFEA's first grant]. Wilmut will clone early stage embryos in order to study motor neuron disease [BBC News backgrounder]. Therapeutic cloning, legalized in 2002, remains a source of controversy in the UK, with opponents calling it unethical, unnecessary and a step toward full blown human cloning. Efforts by the UN to draft an anti-cloning treaty [JURIST report] were abandoned last year [JURIST report]. Read the HFEA press release on its granting of a research license to Wilmut and more from BBC News.

[JURIST] New allegations of torture against detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST Hot Topic archive] have been made at the trial of five former detainees in Morocco [JURIST report]. The five Moroccan men, who were released by the US to local authorities last August, have all pleaded not guilty to charges of belonging to or assisting a criminal group that was preparing to commit terrorist acts. The defendants told the court that during their detention at Guantanamo Bay they were stripped naked and handcuffed before having dogs set upon them. They also said that they were blindfolded when they were made to sign statements while in custody in Morocco. This is the first time that former Gitmo detainees have been put on trial in an Arab country. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Tuesday, Feb. 8.

In Washington today, the US Senate [official website] convenes at 9:30 AM ET for regular business and to consider S. 5 [bill summary], the Class Action Bill. A live webcast is available via C-SPAN 2. The US House [official website] will open its daily session at 2 PM ET, with a live webcast available from C-SPAN.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold a forum on low power FM beginning at 9:30 AM ET. Read the public notice [PDF] and watch a live webcast of the forum.

The Cato Institute is holding a forum on social security reform today, with Nobel Prize in Economics winner Edward Prescott, Harvard University economics professor Martin Feldstein and Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin. A live webcast begins at 9:30 AM ET via C-SPAN 3.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic [ICTY case backgrounder] resumes today after being delayed for several days due to Milosevic's poor health. A webcast begins at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET]. Also Tuesday, the trial of Fatmir Limaj and others [ICTY case backgrounder] continues, with a webcast beginning at 3:30 PM local time [9:30 AM ET].