[JURIST] Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) [official website], ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has called for a congressional investigation of the role played by US intelligence officials in prisoner abuse scandals in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, citing inadequate inquiry into the role of intelligence agents by previous probes of the incidents. Rockefeller expressed concern that the abuse scandals have resulted at least in part from a lack of clear guidelines for effective, legal interrogation tactics, a problem that he claims has also led to ineffective interrogations. Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) [official website] has thusfar rejected Rockefeller’s claim that the abuse scandals had not been sufficiently probed. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed energy bill [text] late Thursday aimed at increasing domestic production, including provisions that would permit drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge [JURIST report] and protect the manufacturer of gasoline additive MTBE [EPA backgrounder] from liability for water contamination. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which has received the strong support of the Bush administration [White House statement], would also grant $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, an amount larger than the president had requested. MTBE production is to be phased out by 2014 under the bill, with $2 billion in assistance to help manufacturers move away from making the additive. The divisive MTBE issue is expected to be a major obstacle to Senate passage of the bill, as was the case in 2003 when the provision was attacked by a Democratic filibuster. AP has more.

[JURIST] US military spokespersons issued statements Thursday clarifying proposed changes to the military’s policy on consensual sodomy, refuting earlier interpretations [JURIST report] by rights groups that the amendments would decriminalize consensual sodomy among members of the armed forces. Pentagon officials did ask Congress to approve a change to the military justice code’s treatment of consensual sodomy, but claim that the proposed change is merely a technical one in order to more clearly state that acts of sodomy are to be considered violations of “good order and discipline” under military law. The officials stated that any act of sodomy (defined in the military justice code as oral or anal sex) would remain a criminal offense, punishable by up to five years in prison. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that a military jury has convicted Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar of murder and attempted murder in a grenade attack on fellow soldiers in Kuwait.

8:05 PM ET ~ Akbar, 33, was charged with killing two fellow soldiers and wounding 14 others [JURIST report] in the attack, which took place in the early stages of the Iraq war. The sentencing phase of Akbar’s court-martial begins Monday, and the 15-member jury will consider the death penalty. Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators that he carried out the attack out of fear that his comrades would kill fellow Muslims during the conflict. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Department of Justice [official website] announced Thursday that it has reached a settlement agreement with Hynix Semiconductor [corporate website] as part of the DOJ's ongoing investigation into price-fixing in the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) industry. Under the agreement, which must be approved by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Hynix will plead guilty to charges that it conspired to eliminate competition through price-fixing of DRAM and will pay a $185 million fine, the third largest criminal antitrust fine in DOJ history. The DOJ investigation has also included Samsung Semiconductor and Infineon. Last December, four Infineon executives pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to price-fixing charges. Read the DOJ press release on Thursday's Hynix settlement. CNET News has more.

[JURIST] Former Merrill Lynch [corporate website] executive Daniel Bayly has been sentenced to 30 months by in prison US District Judge Ewing Werlein for his role in an Enron Nigerian barge scam. Bayly will also face six months of supervision after prison and must pay $840,000 in fees and fines. Judge Werlein found the losses caused by Bayly's crimes to be $1.4 million. In sentencing Bayly, Werline said he considered sentences given to other Enron defendants. While awaiting the sentencing, Bayly has been under house arrest in Connecticut for refusing to relinquish control over an $80 million account. The judge is scheduled to sentence Bayly's codefendant James A. Brown, former head of the bank's asset lease and finance group this afternoon. Brown faces upwards of 30 years in prison over conspiracy, fraud, perjury, and obstruction charges. Their three remaining codefendants, bankers Robert Furst and William Fuhs and Enron's Dan Boyle, will be sentenced in May. Bayly and his codefendants have argued that their conspiracy and fraud should be thrown out because they led to no victims, no losses and that the deal was good for Enron [corporate website; JURIST Hot Topic news archive] shareholders. Read the indictment [PDF] against the five involved in the barge deal. The Houston Chronicle has more and continuing coverage of the Enron barge trial.

[JURIST] In a case somewhat similar to that of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo, Justice Mark Hedley of the High Court in London Thursday upheld a court order allowing a critically ill baby to die if she stops breathing. Charlotte Wyatt [BBC profile] was born 3 months premature with serious brain, lung, and kidney damage. Physicians say she has no feeling other than pain. Doctors had taken Wyatt's parents to court to win the legal right not to resuscitate her. The Wyatts, who believe life should be preserved at any cost, said the court ruling should be overturned because Charlotte can see and hear to a limited extent and sometimes smiles which indicates her life is no longer intolerable and should be saved. Justice Hedley disagreed with this argument and said it was in Charlotte's best interest to die. Hedley said if baby stops breathing, she will be given treatment except for invasive routines of intubation and ventilation but nothing more. Hedley, however, did indicate he would review the order in October to determine any changes. The Wyatt's said they will appeal the decision. AP has more and BBC News has video of the Wyatts' reaction to the ruling.

[JURIST] In Thursday's environmental law news, US District Judge Shira Scheindlin has ruled [text, PDF] that some 80 lawsuits can proceed against oil companies claiming that a gasoline additive, methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) [EPA factpage], contaminated groundwater. The suits allege that the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding MTBE to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. The suits were brought by a number of water providers, towns, counties, cities, and states. Oil companies, including Exxon Mobil [company website] and Lyondell Chemical [company website], have argued that the lawsuits are unfair and that those directly responsible for any spills should be held liable, not the makers of the product. First filed in state courts, the suits were consolidated last year in federal court in New York. The New York Times has more.

In other news,

• The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005 [text] was introduced in the Senate earlier this week, co-sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-PA, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT. The bill would bar asbestos victims from suing companies for damages and instead point them to a $140 billion trust fund set up by the government and consisting of money given by a number of asbestos-defendant companies. Critics of the bill say that the pre-determined compensation for different illnesses denies victims their day in court, and that the bill unfairly caps the recoverable attorney's fees for individual claims. The House of Representatives is currently considering a similar bill [text]. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has more.
  
  
• The Washington State House of Representatives passed a bill [text] Wednesday that would adopt most of California's vehicle-emission standards [text,PDF]. The House had passed a prior version of the bill last month which adopted the new California vehicle-emission standards in their entirety, but the bill was amended when it got to the Senate. The amended version includes changes such as banning the purchase of cars from out of state that don't meet the new standards and removing the California requirement that 10 percent of new vehicles meet a zero-emissions standard. Critics of the bill argue that the State is only allowed to follow either the federal vehicle-emission standards or the California standards but cannot cherry-pick bits and pieces from them. If signed by the Governor, the measures will take effect beginning with the 2009 model year and will hinge on the neighboring state of Oregon also adopting the new standards. AP has the full story.
  
  
• As already reported in JURIST's Paper Chase, the House voted late yesterday to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of a broad energy bill. A final vote on the energy legislation is expected by the House today.

[JURIST] Saajid Badat [Wikipedia profile], the British man who has admitted to conspiring with "shoebomber" Richard Reid [Wikipedia profile] to blow up an aircraft, will be sentenced on Friday after entering a guilty plea to a conspiracy charge in February. Badat, who did not go forward with his plan, was to use an explosive device similar to the one Reid used when trying to blow up an American Airlines flight in 2001. Police found a bomb at Badat's home which he had made safe by separating the detonator and fuse from the plastic explosive to evade airport security. Reid was sentenced to life imprisonment by a US court in January 2003. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's international brief, the first troops of the UN peacekeeping force assigned to Sudan [JURIST report] arrived in Khartoum Thursday to prepare the way for the more than 10,000 troops to follow. The 44 peacekeepers that arrived in the Sudanese capital were mainly staff officers sent to set up command and control elements for the next wave of peacekeepers. Bangladeshi UN Force Commander General Fazle Elahi Akbar, in charge of the military aspects of the entire peacekeeping operation, arrived with the staff officers and is planning to visit several different regions in Sudan [government website] to "assess ground preparation for UN troop deployment." JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Sudan [JURIST news archive]. South Africa's News 24 has local coverage.

In other international legal news ...

• The UN High Commission on Refugees [official website] announced Wednesday that thousands of Rwandans fleeing to neighboring Uganda [government website] were claiming that they were escaping from 'arbitrary arrests' in Rwanda [government website]. The UNHCR noticed a higher level of refugees from Rwanda to neighboring countries such as Uganda and Burundi beginning in March. While the UN refugee agency has not released an official statement of what is behind the increase in refugees, workers in the area said that many of the refugees are fleeing the Gacaca courts [backgrounder] that began operation in March. The Gacaca courts are traditional, tribal judicial bodies that are being used to help try individuals suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide [Rwanda government backgrounder] between the Hutu and Tustsi. IRIN has more.
  
  
• Former Nepalese Foreign Minister Prakash Man Singh, a member of the Dueba cabinet removed by royal mandate [JURIST report], was arrested Thursday by officials from the Royal Commission for Corruption Control at his home in Chhetrapati. Singh had previously refused to appear before the Commission to testify, saying that the RCCC's creation by royal decree [JURIST report] was unconstitutional. Family and supporters of Singh reportedly scuffled with the RCCC security officials and the plainclothes officers arresting the former minister. JURIST's Paper Chase has continuing coverage of Nepal. Kantipur Online has local coverage.
  
  
• South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun [official profile] called on prosecutors Wednesday to voluntarily give up some of their powers of office in order to restore public trust in the Ministry of Justice [government website]. Roh said that the state prosecution agency still had authoritarian powers that created a mistrust of the agency by the general public. Roh warned that if prosecutors failed to give up power voluntarily, the government would take steps to officially remove those powers. Roh also urged the state prosecution agency to work effectively on a current discussion on how to properly limit the independent investigatory powers of the national police. Chosun Ilbo has local coverage.

[JURIST] The office of the Pentagon's general counsel [official website] has sent leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives Armed Services Committees a draft copy of a proposal saying that consensual sodomy between members of the US military would no longer be a criminal act. The change would bring the military legal code closer to the law governing civilians. Under the current Uniform Code of Military Justice [text], consensual sodomy is punishable by up to five years in prison. The new law would say 'forcible' sodomy or sodomy with a child can be prosecuted. Gay rights advocates including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) [advocacy website] are praising the decision [HRC press release]. The change, if implemented, would not change 'the don't ask, don't tell' policy under which homosexuals can be dismissed from the armed forces for committing homosexual acts or openly discussing their sexual preferences. Congress would still need to approve of the change before it became law. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] on Thursday approved two of President Bush's judicial nominees [JURIST news archive], sending the nominations to the full Senate in what could trigger a partisan face-off over the filibuster. With two 10-8 votes along party lines, the Committee approved the nominations of Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown [Independent Judiciary profiles] to the 5th and 2nd Circuit Courts of Appeals, respectively. Both nominees were previously blocked by a Democratic filibuster during President Bush's first term, but he renominated them in January. Democrats have indicated they will again block the nominations in the full Senate, while Republicans have threatened to remove the filibuster [JURIST report] from Senate rules for judicial nominations. The change would allow judicial nominees to be approved with a simple majority vote rather than the 60-vote support currently needed. AP has more.

[JURIST] Zacarias Moussaoui [JURIST news archive], the only person charged by the US in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, could receive the death penalty after he requested nothing in return for agreeing to plead guilty, federal officials have said. Moussaoui has indicated he will plead guilty [JURIST report] to a six-count indictment with no stipulation as to what his sentence will be as a result. US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema met with Moussaoui Wednesday to determine his mental capacity to plead guilty and concluded he is fit [JURIST report] to enter a plea. A Friday hearing is scheduled, when Moussaoui's plea will likely be entered. Four of the six charges against Moussaoui carry a maximum sentence of death. The lack of any bargain is the latest in a strange series of events surrounding Moussaoui's case. He originally offered to plead guilty in 2002, but subsequently withdrew the plea a week later. His mental competence has since been subject to question. AP has more.

[JURIST] Brazil has granted asylum to ousted Ecuadoran President Lucio Gutierrez [Wikipedia profile], Brazil's Ministry of External Relations [official website] said Thursday. The Ministry said Gutierrez sought asylum Wednesday at the Brazilian embassy in Quito, calling its grant of the request a "regional tradition." Gutierrez was removed from his position on Wednesday by a congressional vote [JURIST report] after a day of protests and a no-confidence vote by the military following his declaration of a brief state of emergency and his dismissal of the country's Supreme Court [JURIST report]. Vice President Alfredo Palacio was sworn-in [Knight Ridder report] as president following Gutierrez's removal, making him Ecuador's seventh president in 10 years. From Quito, the Diario Hoy has local coverage [in Spanish] of the events. AFP has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Ecuador congress removes president for "abandoning position"
• Ecuador president refuses resignation in face of protests, impeachment threats
• Ecuador congress to consider presidential impeachment
• Ecuador supreme court dismissed by president

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's corporations and securities brief, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) [corporate website] announced it will merge with rival Archipelago Holdings Inc. [corporate website] in a move which transforms the NYSE into a for-profit, publicly traded company. The NYSE, known for its busy trading floor, takes on all-electronic Archipelago to effectively compete with the Nasdaq Market Inc. and other global competition. The NYSE will not entirely forego its floor-based operation but will instead run it alongside the electronic option. Read the NYSE press release [PDF] and statement by CEO John A. Thain. Read a statement by Archipelago CEO Jerry Putnam. NYSE has a webcast of the proceedings. AP has more.

In other news...

• The EU Court of First Instance [official website], the EU's second highest court, ruled PepsiCo [corporate website] cannot use Ruffles as a brand name in the EU for its potato chips, fine pastry and confectionery products affirming the original decision taken by the Office of Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) [corporate website]. Pepsi had applied to use the Ruffles name in the EU but was opposed by German rival Intersnack Knabber-Geback [corporate website], who sold potato chips under the Riffels brand name. Read the opinion. Reuters has more.
  
  
• SEC Chairman William Donaldson [SEC biography] told a House Financial Services Committee [official website] hearing that the SEC is looking at ways to make the financial reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [text, PDF] more efficient and effective. Donaldson called requests to weaken the requirements of the act because of potential costs to companies unjustified. CBSMarketWatch has more.
  
  
• BearingPoint Inc. [corporate website], a consulting services company, announced in a SEC filing [text] that the SEC has launched an informal inquiry into the company. The agency has asked for documents related to internal control deficiencies and prior-period financial adjustments. The company will cooperate in the probe. Dow Jones has more.
  
  
• The US government has filed an appeal in a tax-refund case stemming from capital loss deductions and tax credits taken by Goodrich Corp.'s [corporate website] former subsidiary, Coltec Industries Inc. Last November, a federal court ruled in favor of Coltec, ordering the government to refund tax payments of $82.8 million. The Charlotte Business Journal has more.
  
  
• The SEC [official website] announced it has charged Guillaume Pollet, a former managing director of investment bank SG Cowen & Co. [corporate website], with insider trading and fraud. Pollet has been charged for his role in short-selling shares in companies based on non-public information ahead of 2001 private stock offerings in 10 companies thereby generating $4 million in trading gains for his company. Read the SEC press release and litigation release.
  
  
• Time Warner Inc. [corporate website] and Comcast Corp. [corporate website] announced bankrupt cable operator Adelphia Communications Corp. [corporate website] has accepted a buyout offer valued at $17.6 billion. Time Warner and Comcast beat out rival Cablevision Systems Corp. [corporate website] which bid $17.1 billion. Under the deal Adelphia receives $12.7 billion in cash and a stake in the new company. Time Warner is expected to take on $11 billion in net debt to finance the deal. The deal needs approval from the boards of directors of Adelphia, Time Warner and Comcast, the companies' shareholders, Adelphia's bankruptcy judge and federal regulators. Read the Time Warner press release and the Adelphia press release [PDF]. Reuters has more.
  
  
• French drinks group Pernod Ricard [corporate website] has offered £7.4bn ($14 billion) to buy UK rival Allied Domecq [corporate website]. The deal, which would bring together the world's second and third largest drink companies, would be one of the industry's biggest takeovers. Allied's board has already approved the deal. Read the Pernod Ricard press release and the Allied Domecq press release [PDF]. BBC News has more.
  
  
• Representative Rob Portman [official website], President Bush's nominee to be the US Trade Representative [official website], told the Senate Finance Committee [official website] that if confirmed, he would implement a tougher approach toward China starting with a review of the various trade complaints against China. The comments come as the US has a record trade deficit of $162 billion with China and pressure on China from the US administration to stop pegging its currency, the yuan, to the dollar. AP has more.
  
  
• Conrad Black [Wikipedia profile] and business partner David Radler have resigned from private holding company, Ravelston, placing the company into the hands of a receiver. The pair resigned to facilitate a filing for bankrupcy protection, which was already granted by a Canadian court. Ravelston owns about 78 percent of Hollinger Inc. [corporate website] through various holding companies. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] Prosecutors have finally charged Mexico City's popular mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [World Mayor profile] with abuse of authority, a move that could threaten Obrador's run for president. A week after President Vicente Fox [official site] considered - then reconsidered [JURIST report] a pardon, and two weeks after Lopez Obrador promised he would surrender to authorities [JURIST report] when he was stripped of public official immunity, prosecutors asked the court to order Lopez Obrador to appear before a judge, who will then decide whether to accept or dismiss the charges. Two legislators from Fox's National Action Party [Wikipedia entry] paid the bond, a move many suspect was made to prevent a surge of public sympathy for the mayor, who promised to fight charges from his cell. Lopez Obrador claims the charges are a fabrication to keep him from the presidential race and called the payment of his bail an act of "cowardice" perpetrated by "swindlers". AP has more.

[JURIST] The Israeli government [official website] has released a report setting material damages to the Jewish people during the Holocaust [Wikipedia profile] between $240 billion and $330 billion. The report is the first of its kind, including not only the value of looted Jewish property but also lost income and wages, as well as unpaid wages from forced Jewish labor. The report estimates the value of plundered Jewish property at current prices to be $125 billion, the loss of income at $104 billion to $155 billion, and unpaid wages of forced laborers at $11 billion to $52 billion. Aharon Mor, a Finance Ministry official who headed the committee which published the report, said they used extrapolations of information drawn from more than 100 sources and did no original research in compiling the report. Studies indicate only 20 percent of stolen Jewish assets has been returned. The report called on countries to implement special legislation to speed up restitution to survivors. AP has more and Haaretz has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US House of Presentatives voted late Wednesday to allow oil drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) [official website] as part of new and wide-ranging energy legislation [text]. The bill's sponsors claim the refuge will produce as much as a million barrels of oil a day which will help the country's growing dependence on foreign oil. Opponents argue drilling will do little to promote conservation or ease gasoline prices because the oil would not be available for a decade. The bill also calls for $8.1 billion in tax breaks to promote coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas energy industries over 10 years. Senate Democrats [official website] have already pledged to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge to oil drilling. House Democrats attempted to take the amendment to strip the Alaska refuge provision from the energy bill but failed by a vote of 231-200. Lawmakers were also defeated in their attempt to require automakers to raise fuel economy to 33 miles per gallon over the next decade by a vote of 254-177. President Bush has urged Congress to give him an energy bill [White House press release] to sign by the summer. He claims that refuge-drilling will have no impact on wildlife and would produce nearly half the oil the US now gets from Venezuela. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Texas House of Representatives has passed legislation [text] which would bar homosexuals from becoming foster parents. The ban, part of the state's attempt to revamp its Child Protective Services Agency [official website], passed 135-6 Tuesday with two abstentions and now goes to the state Senate. According to the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay rights project [advocacy website], Texas would be the first state in the union to prohibit gays from becoming foster parents. Arkansas previously barred gays from becoming foster parents, but a judge ruled the ban to be unconstitutional [JURIST report] in December. Under the Texas ban, everyone who applies to be a foster parent or a foster parent must indicate their sexual preference whether homosexual or bisexual. If the question is answered in the affirmative, the person would be barred from serving as a foster parent. If a homosexual is already a foster parent, the child would be removed from the home. Read the Texas House press release. AP has more.

[JURIST] Chicago Cardinal Francis George [Wikipedia profile] said Wednesday that new pope Benedict XVI [official Vatican website], will preserve the church law giving bishops broad power to discipline sexually abusive priests. George said he had previously told then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the need to keep the law which avoids the lengthy Vatican process for ousting a priest from the church. The law was adopted in 2002 [Boston Globe report] as a result of the clergy molestation crisis in the US. It was to expire March 1, but was temporarily extended while under review. Ratzinger was deeply involved in the Vatican's response to the abuse crisis after being given authority last year to review abuse claims against priests. The law has already been modified after Vatican officials expressed concerns that it did not properly protect due process rights of priests and other church leaders complained the policy violated Catholic teaching on redemption and forgiveness. David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) [advocacy website], said he was encouraged by George's statement but will withhold judgment on Benedict for now. More than 700 clergy have been removed from US parishes since 2002. Read the SNAP response to the sex abuse law extension. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Commission [official website] Thursday passed a resolution condemning rights abuses in Sudan. The final text, supported by the US, the EU, other African nations and even Sudan itself, only passed after a compromise was reached on wording that also praised the Sudanese government's efforts to improve the situation in Darfur [BBC profile]. The resolution condemned in general terms "the continued, widespread and systematic violations by all parties of human rights and international humanitarian law" in Darfur and specifically condemned "the violence against civilians and sexual violence against women and girls, destruction of villages, widespread displacement and other violations." AP has more. Also Thursday, the Commission rejected Cuba’s bid for an international investigation of US treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay [official website]. The vote against Cuba’s resolution was 22-8, with 23 nations abstaining. China, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Sudan, Malaysia, Guatemala and Mexico also supported the resolution. The resolution would have required the US to authorize an independent fact-finding mission to determine the human rights conditions for detainees at Guantanamo. Cuba introduced the resolution after the Commission approved a resolution [UN press release] to report on the human rights situation in Cuba. AP has more.

[JURIST] Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, April 21.

The US Senate [official website] convenes at 9:30 AM ET today. It will begin an executive session at 10:30 AM ET to consider the nomination of John Negroponte [official profile] as National Intelligence Director, and then resume consideration of H.R. 1268 [bill summary], the Iraq/Afghanistan Supplemental Appropriations bill. Watch a live webcast of the session. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee [official website] is holding a hearing at 9:30 AM ET to review the anti-corruption strategies of the African and Asian Development Banks and the European Bank on Reconstruction and Development. Watch a live webcast of the hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] Intellectual Property Subcommittee is holding a hearing at 2:30 PM ET today on the patent system currently and in the future. Watch a live webcast of the hearing.

The US House [official website] convenes at 10 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast of the session. The House Judiciary Committee [official website] Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee is holding a hearing at 10 AM ET today to review the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act [PDF text]. Watch a live webcast of the hearing. The Immigration, Border Security and Claims Subcommittee is holding a hearing at 1 PM ET today on the October 2005 deadline for visa waiver program countries to produce security passports. Watch a live webcast of the hearing.

Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer [Legal Information Institute profiles] will participate in a "Constitutional Conversation" at 7 PM ET at the National Archives. Watch a live webcast of the event via C-SPAN 3.

The Heritage Foundation [official website] is holding a forum titled "The Agony of an American Wilderness: Loggers, Environmentalists, and the Struggle for Control of a Forgotten Forest" at Noon ET today. Watch a live webcast of the event.

At the UN, the General Assembly [official website] will hold its 93rd plenary session at 10 AM ET today, in which it will hear a report on the financing of the UN mission in Sudan. The Security Council [official website] convenes at 10 AM ET today, when it will consider the situation in the Middle East. Watch a live webcast of both sessions.

The Eleventh UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice [official website] continues today in Bangkok, Thailand. View the agenda for the session.

At the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia,the trial of Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura [ICTY case backgrounder] continues at 9:30 AM local time [3:30 AM ET]. Watch a webcast of proceedings.