[JURIST] AP is reporting that a military jury empaneled for the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse trial of Spc. Sabrina Harman [JURIST news archive] has convicted her on six of seven counts. AP has more on Monday's closing defense arguments in her case at Fort Hood, Texas, which began last Thursday.

9:57 PM ET - Reuters now has more on Monday evening's ruling.

[JURIST] AP is reporting that Newsweek magazine has officially retracted its May 9 story that US personnel at Guantanamo had desecrated the Koran. Editors at the magazine began publicly backtracking from the story Sunday night [JURIST report] after a source said he could no longer be certain that he had read of any such actions in Pentagon documents; the editors at that point apologized to the victims of Afghan rioting [JURIST report] incited by the report. US officials Monday sharply criticized the magazine for printing the unconfirmed story, with White House spokesman Scott McLellan saying it had damaged US-Muslim relations {retuers report]. In the Muslim world meanwhile, the government of Pakistan repeated its demand [AP report] that the US investigate the alleged incident despite the Newsweek apology; a Pentagon probe [VOA report] into the allegations is ongoing.

5:35 PM ET - AP now has more.

[JURIST] Database giant Oracle [official website] has agreed to pay $8 million to settle a dispute over claims that the company fraudulently billed the US government for software training from 1997 through 2003. Former Oracle employee Robert J. Makheja, who claimed he was fired after challenging the company's billing practices, will receive $1.58 million in the settlement. The lawsuit had been sealed by US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan [official profile] until the announced settlement because it was a whistleblower complaint. The terms of the settlement state that Oracle denies any wrongdoing and that its conduct was appropriate under the terms of the contract. Read the US Attorney's press release on the settlement from Friday. AP has more.

[JURIST] The former Nigerian education minister, former senate leader, and five other Nigerian lawmakers went on trial for corruption Monday in the capital city of Abuja. Ex-Education Minister Fabian Osuji is accused of paying a $400,000 bribe to parliament in order to get an inflated budget for his department passed. The trial is part of an anti-corruption drive [AllAfrica.com report; 2003 CHRRD report on Nigerian corruption; Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission website] by Nigerian Pesident Olusegun Obasanjo [Wikipedia profile]. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] Britain's General Medical Council [official website], the body that registers and regulates British doctors, went to court Monday [official statement] to clarify a 2004 ruling on a patient's right to treatment. Leslie Burke [advocacy website], who suffers from a degenerative brain disorder, obtained [BBC report] a July court order [PDF file] stating that if patients such as himself are no longer able to communicate their wishes, doctors must judge what the patient would want. The GMC objects [reasons for appeal] not to Burke's case specifically, but rather to implications of the order, which they say could force doctors to provide care which may serve no benefit or even harm a patient. Bloomberg has more.

[JURIST] In a historic move Monday, the Kuwait National Assembly [official website] passed a law granting women the right to both run and vote in parliamentary elections. The legislation passed in the all-male parliament by a vote of 35 to 23 on an issue that had spurred strong reactions by conservative Islamists on one side and women and human rights activists on the other. The addition of women to the voting population is likely to double the number of registered voters in Kuwait. Saudi Arabia is now the only Middle Eastern country where regular elections are held in which women cannot vote. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court said Monday that it will decide whether states and counties can be sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act [official website] for not making accommodations for disabled inmates in prisons. The Bush administration filed an appeal in the case on behalf of an inmate seeking wheelchair accessibility in his prison. The case highlights issues of federal power and state liability, with states facing huge costs if retrofitting prisons to accommodate disabled inmates is required. AP has more. No other cases were granted certiorari; the Court's full Order List from Monday is here [PDF].

[JURIST] Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of a former computer science professor and three others accused of funding a terrorist group responsible for a bombing in Israel. Sami Al-Arian [defense website, Wikipedia profile] is charged [JURIST report] with using an Islamic think tank he established as a front for finanicing terrorism. Defense lawyers have asked for a change in venue [AP report], claiming the publicity surrounding the investigating tainted the jury pool. His alleged terrorist activities were a hot-button issue [St. Petersburg Times report] in the 2004 Senate campaign between Betty Castor, who suspended Al-Arian while she was president of the University of South Florida, and Mel Martinez, who won the election. AP has more.

[JURIST] A US Senate panel reported Monday that Saddam Hussein's government provided Russian officials with millions of dollars in oil rights under the oil-for-food program [JURIST news archive] in a bid to lift UN sanctions against Iraq. The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations [official website], a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs [official website], follows a trail of money to Alexander Voloshin [NPI profile], former chief of staff [BBC report] to both former Russian president Boris Yeltsin [Wikipedia profile] and current incumbent Vladimir Putin [official website], though the report acknowledges that there is no evidence Putin knew of the payments. Transactions were traced through the Russian Presidential Administration [official website, English version] headed by Voloshin via shell companies and the report estimates the Administration received some $3 million. Voloshin netted another 5.6 million in kickbacks or surcharges to Iraq. Russian legislator Vladimir Zhirinovsky [Wikipedia profile], a frequent visitor to Iraq, was also named in the report as a beneficiary of payments and kickbacks. The new allegations are likely to be discussed in a Senate Homeland Security committee hearing [agenda] Tuesday. Reuters has more.

1:50 PM ET - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov denied that Moscow had any evidence of oil-for-food cheating in an interview Monday saying, "We have seen no materials that could prove or suggest that Russian companies or individuals who took part in the oil-for-food program broke any law." AFP has more. From Russia, Interfax has local coverage.

[JURIST] Russian judges on Monday found oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky [Wikipedia profile] guilty on six counts in his trial [defense website] for fraud in connection with his management of the YUKOS oil company [JURIST news archive]. Reading of the verdict will continue on Tuesday morning. US officials are concerned that the case represents a selective application of the law, and have criticized the Russian government's handling of the case [State Department release, Q&A]. Reuters has more. MosNews has local coverage.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled Monday that states may not pass laws banning out-of-state wineries from shipping wine directly to customers in state. The ruling strikes down New York and Michigan laws [state shipping laws from Wine Institute] prohibiting direct shipment to customers from winerys in other states and affects 24 other states with similar wine shipping bans. In the 5-4 decision the court called the bans discriminatory and anti-competitive because the New York and Michigan laws allowed in-state wineries to ship directly to customers but did not allow the same for out-of-state wineries. Read the opinion [PDF]. AP has more.

[JURIST] The French yes [Ensemble pour le "oui" website] and no [Gaullist website] campaigns on the proposed EU constitution [text; French EU constitution backgrounder by the Paris-based Centre d'information sur l'Europe] officially began Monday with the two sides nearly deadlocked just two weeks before the critical vote on May 29. The constitution requires support from all 25 EU member states and a rejection from an major member such as France could scuttle the constitional project and breed political uncertainty throughout the EU. The latest opinion poll shows the French "no" campaign in the lead with 54 percent of the vote, an increase of 4 percent from just ten days ago. Expatica has more.

[JURIST] An Indonesian appeals court has upheld a two-and-a-half year sentence for Abu Bakar Ba'asyir [BBC profile], convicted in March for conspiracy [JURIST report] in the 2002 Bali bombings [Answers fact sheet]. The defense argued that the conviction wasn't based on sufficient evidence. The US and Australian governments had previously objected to the sentence, calling it too lenient. The ruling was announced by court officials Monday but was actually handed down behind closed doors on May 11. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egypt Sunday denied a recent Human Rights Watch report [HRW text] accusing it of torturing terror suspects transferred there by the US. The organization had accused Egypt [JURIST report] of torturing prisoners [JURIST report] which it said were transferred there in circumvention of international law. Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said approximately 60 or 70 suspects had been transferred to his country by the US, but flatly denied the torture allegations. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] On a visit to Iraq Sunday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the Shiite- and Kurd-dominated government to involve the Sunni Arabs - estimated to make up anywhere from 20% [US DOD report] to over 50% [IslamOnline report] of Iraq's population, based on different counting methodologies - in writing the country's new constitution. The recently-formed constitutional committee of the Iraqi National Assembly [Wikipedia entry] has 55 members, but only two Sunnis. Rice repeated administration concerns that the Iraqi constitution-drafting process be inclusive [State Department transcript]. The San Jose Mercury News has more.