[JURIST] In a Tuesday evening sitting Canada's House of Commons has passed a bill [C-38 text] that will legalize same-sex marriage across Canada. The legislation, presented by the minority Liberty Party government as a non-partisan "free vote" for MPs other than Cabinet ministers, was approved 158-133. Most members of the opposition Conservative Party voted against the measure, with leader Stephen Harper promising that if his party is voted in at the next election the measure will be "revisited". Once the bill in approved by the Liberal-dominated Senate and given royal assent Canada will become only the third country in the world to legalize gay marriage, joining the Netherlands and Belgium. CBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Tuesday rejected a lawsuit [PDF text] against the Japanese government filed by 15 Asian women who claim Japanese soldiers forced them to act as "comfort women" [Wikipedia backgrounder], or sex slaves, during World War II. The court said it is not allowed to hear the case because the Japanese government has "absolute immunity" from defending the suit in the US for legal and political reasons. The lawsuit was filed by women from the Philippines, Taiwan, China, and South Korea, and this is the second time a US court has turned back the case. From Japan, Kyodo News has more.

[JURIST] In a primetime TV address to the nation from Fort Bragg, NC, marking the one-year anniversary of the return of local sovereignty to Iraqi hands [JURIST report] President Bush has focused primarily on security-related issues relating to the ongoing American military presence in the country, but also called on Iraqis to write a "good constitution" drawing together all groups in Iraqi society and urged them to meet the deadlines already established for the key stages in the constitional process:

The challenge facing Iraqis today is to put [the] past behind them and come together to build a new Iraq that includes all its people. They are doing that by building the institutions of a free society, a society based on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and equal justice under law. The Iraqis have held free elections and established a transitional national assembly. The next step is to write a good constitution that enshrines these freedoms in permanent law. The assembly plans to expand its constitutional drafting committee to include more Sunni Arabs. Many Sunnis who opposed the January elections are now taking part in the democratic process, and that is essential to Iraq's future.

After a constitution is written, the Iraqi people will have a chance to vote on it. If approved, Iraqis will go to the polls again to elect a new government under their new, permanent constitution. By taking these critical steps and meeting their deadlines, Iraqis will bind their multiethnic society together in a democracy that respects the will of the majority and protects minority rights.

[JURIST] The Virginia co-ordinator of Ralph Nader's 2004 presidential campaign [campaign website] pleaded guilty to charges of election fraud on Tuesday. James Polk will serve 30 days of house detention and pay a $2500 fine for attempting to put Nader on the Virginia ballot by illegally certifying petitions. Nader's name was ultimately left off the state's ballot. AP has more.

[JURIST] Two Rwandan businessmen were found guilty by a Brussels court Tuesday on 81 charges of murder and war crimes related to the country's 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder] during which 800,000 people were killed. Half-brothers Samuel Ndashyikirwa and Etienne Nzabonimana, who have repeatedly denied any involvement in the genocide, were accused of giving weapons, vehicles and beer to the Hutu ethnic group [Wikipedia backgrounder], leading to the massacre of 50,000 people in the Kibungo region, mostly of the Tutsi minority group [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The genocide trial is the second in Belgium, allowable under its universal jurisdiction law [JURIST report], and commenced after a decade-long investigation by Belgian authorities. The first trial resulted in jail sentences for four Rwandans in June 2001. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news,the UK's Financial Services Authority [official website] has fined Citigroup [corporate website] $25 million for flooding the market with bonds. Though the transaction was not illegal, it was against standard practice for European bond trading. In a press release, the FSA said that the transaction caused a sharp drop in bond prices. Reuters has more.

In other corporations and securities law news...

• US prosecutors are seeking an 85-year jail term for former Worldcom [JURIST Hot Topic coverage] CEO Bernard Ebbers [Wikipedia profile]. In March, Ebbers was found guilty of corporate fraud [JURIST report]. MarketWatch has more.
  
  
• As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy [Wikipedia profile] was acquitted by a federal jury today following weeks of deliberations [JURIST archives]. Scrushy was originally charged with 85 counts of corporate fraud. He was ultimately tried on 36 charges and could have faced up to life in prison if found guilty of $2.7 billion in accounting fraud. Following his criminal acquittal, the AP is reporting that Scrushy now faces civil charges from the SEC. Reuters has more.
  
  
• Also as reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, AMD [corporate website] has filed an antitrust complaint against Intel [corporate website]. In its suit, AMD claims that Intel bullied manufacturers into signing exclusive contracts. AMD is seeking billions of dollars in damages in its suit. In a press release, AMD said customers "pay the price in cash every day for Intel's monopoly abuses." AP has more.

[JURIST] The White House is expected to approve 70 changes proposed by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction [official website] after a three-month investigation by the National Security Council which will be made public Wednesday. The recommendations were outlined in a report [PDF] issued by the commission in March [JURIST report] which denounced the intelligence community's assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction as "one of the most public - and most damaging - intelligence failures in recent American history." The panel, led by former Democratic Senator Charles Robb [Wikipedia profile] and Republican Judge Laurence Silberman [Wikipedia profile], has included in its recommendations the creation of a National Counter Proliferation Center to coordinate US intelligence and the creation of a national security division at the US Department of Justice [official website]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Leading Tuesday's states brief, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled [PDF text] today that the state's Public Service Commission [official website] acted properly in approving a coal-fired power plant in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. S.C Johnson & Son and the environmental group Clean Wisconsin [press release] challenged the plant saying that the Commission did not give enough scrutiny to the project and failed to considered cleaner alternatives. Wisconsin Energy subsidiary We Energies [official website] said the expansion of an already existing power plant will cut emissions by half because of new technology and new environmental controls. Read the Public Service Commission's press release. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that New York state will not have to pay $248 million in land claims to the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York [tribe website] and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma [tribe website] as ordered by a lower court. In its opinion [PDF text] the court found parallels to a US Supreme Court decision this year that said Oneida Indians in New York state could not take back sovereignty on lands due to the statute of limitations. A spokeswoman for New York Attorney General's office [official website] said the ruling was precedent-setting in light of other Indian tribes that have unsettled land claims in New York. Reuters has more.
  
  
• Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland filed suit [NY Attorney General press release] in Pittsburgh Tuesday against Allegheny Energy Inc. [press release] and its subsidiaries for alleged violations of state environmental regulations and the Clean Air Act. The complaint [PDF text] alleges that the company modified three of its western Pennsylvania coal-fired power plants without getting the approval of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection [official website]. The remaining four states alleged that the plants contribute to the smoke and acid rain in their states. AP has more.
  
  
• The Michigan Supreme Court [official website] ruled Tuesday that public school retirees' health care benefits are not "accrued financial benefits" as defined under the state constitution [PDF text]. The opinion in Studier v. Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System rejected arguments by the retirees that increases in their prescription drug copays and annual deductibles were unconstitutional. Attorneys for the state argued that each dollar spent on retiree benefits is diverted from student education. AP has more.
  
  
• The California Supreme Court has ruled [PDF text] that the Federal Arbitration Act [text] does not pre-empt California law and therefore does not require California to apply another state's laws to a contractual arbitration proceeding where the other state's laws violate California's fundamental public policy. The decision reversed the ruling of a court of appeals which said that the state courts were required to honor a provision in a Discover Card User Agreement which expressly bars class action arbitration. The contract applies Delaware law, under which the right to initiate a class action arbitration may be waived. California's Metropolitan News-Enterprise has local coverage.

[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak [ICJ profile] said Tuesday that the UN has learned of serious allegations that the US is secretly detaining prisoners aboard military vessels, perhaps in the Indian Ocean in the vicinity of the US island base at Diego Garcia [official website]. Nowak acknowledged that the allegations were only rumors but added that they were "very, very serious" and "appear sufficiently well-based to merit an official inquiry." Last week Nowak publicly complained [JURIST report] that the US was stalling on his request to visit detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] and urged a swift response which has not yet been forthcoming. British security expert Francis Tusa said that if the US is holding prisoners aboard ships in international waters it would allow them to interrogate the prisoners outside the reach of US laws, in the same fashion that Guantanamo was deemed to be beyond the reach of US law before a Supreme Court ruling last year that gave detainees there recourse against the US government in federal courts. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Canadian Minister of State Joe Comuzzi [official profile] resigned from the government Liberal cabinet Tuesday hours before a scheduled parliamentary vote on a controversial same-sex marriage bill [C-38 text]. Comuzzi, Minister of State for Northern Ontario, informed Prime Minister Paul Martin [official website] early Tuesday that he could not vote in opposition to his constituents, who he claims overwhelmingly oppose government sanctioned marriages for homosexual couples. Martin said in a statement [text] that he was sad to lose the cabinet minister but was pleased Comuzzi was not giving up his seat in the Parliament and planned to run for re-election. The same-sex marriage bill that would legalize gay marriage across Canada is scheduled for a vote at 8:30 PM ET Tuesday and is widely expected to pass. CBC has more.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] has formally asked a federal judge to impose $14 billion in penalties on cigarette companies in a massive racketeering trial. The request made late Monday elaborates on smoking cessation proposals made earlier this month during the trial's closing arguments. The proposed program of $14 billion, slightly more than the $10 billion requested earlier in the month, is still only about one-tenth the original $130 billion sought by the government, a drop criticized by Democrats and anti-smoking groups [JURIST report] but later defended by the Department of Justice [JURIST report]. Defendant Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris, said the proposal will not meet the standards of the civil racketeering law. The DOJ has documents and background material on the tobacco litigation. AP has more.

[JURIST] Egyptian opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour [Wikipedia profile] pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of forgery as hundreds outside the courthouse protested his trial as a attempt to eliminate any rivals to current President Hosni Mubarak [official profile]. The case, in which Nour is accused of forging signatures [JURIST report] to get his opposition al-Ghad party registered, has created tension between the US and its closest ally in the Middle East, Egypt. Lawyers on both sides shouted arguments back and forth Tuesday before the judge regained control and ordered a recess. Nour is the most prominent figure to announce his plan to run for president in the upcoming September elections, the first to be opened to challengers [JURIST report] to the current president. Mubarak is widely expected to run for a fifth term in office and has called the open election a major democratic reform. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Canada [official website] Tuesday ruled unanimously [text] that Rwandan Leon Mugesera [CTV profile], accused of inciting genocide, must be deported from Canada. In 1992 Mugesera gave a speech in Rwanda encouraging Hutus to kill Tutsis, a speech the Supreme Court of Canada concluded could be reasonably viewed as a crime against humanity. Lawyers for Mugesera had argued that their client did nothing to incite the genocide and instead aided in protecting Tutsis during the violence. It is unclear when the deportation is to take effect or whether Mugesera has any further options to appeal his case. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday upheld civil contempt of court findings against four reporters unwilling to reveal their sources for articles about Los Alamos [official website] nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee [Wikipedia profile]. The court did overturn a lower court's contempt ruling for a fifth journalist, Jeff Gerth. Read the opinion [PDF]. The four journalists found in contempt are Robert Drogin and James Risen of the Los Angeles Times, H. Josef Hebert of the Associated Press, and Pierre Thomas, previously with CNN and now with ABC. Lee lost his job at Los Alamos in 1999 over allegations of espionage and later pled guilty to a lesser charge. He sued for the disclosure of personal information by US agencies but the four reporters refused to provide details about their sources. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US Senate on Tuesday passed a controversial energy bill [text] giving large sums of money to industry in incentives and pushing for more efficient use of energy through renewable resources. Republican and Democrats came together to pass the bill 82-12 [roll call] but it can only become law if the language can be reconciled with a similar House bill passed in April [JURIST report]. Previous attempts to find common ground between the House and Senate have failed over the issue of liability for makers of MTBE [EPA overview], a substance which makes fuel burn more completely. Environmental group Sierra Club [advocacy website] expressed opposition [press release] to the Senate bill saying it does "virtually nothing to lower our dependence on oil." AFP has more.

[JURIST] A jury has found former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST news archive] not guilty on charges of wire and mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [summary]. Scrushy was the first CEO to be charged with violating the act. The jury, originally given the case on May 19, was deadlocked for weeks [JURIST report] and had to start deliberating again on June 22 when a juror was replaced [JURIST report] for health reasons. The charges stemmed from a scheme to overstate earnings and inflate the company's stock price between 1996 and 2002. Prosecutors claimed Scrushy was in charge of the scam, while Scrushy's defense blamed aides, 15 of whom pleaded guilty [AP report]. CNN has more.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to review for the third time a 19-year old abortion case. In 1994 the Court held that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) [text] could be used to challenge anti-abortion blockades of clinics. When the suit went back to trial plaintiff National Organization for Women [advocacy website] won $276,000 in damages from anti-abortion demonstrators and a nation-wide injunction against blockades. However, when the case returned to the Supreme Court again in 2003, the Justices found a lack of evidence of extortion and lifted the injunction. Now, while anti-abortion forces argue that decision put the issue to rest, the court will hear Scheidler v. NOW [Duke Law backgrounder] and Operation Rescue v. NOW as a consolidated case beginning in October of the 2005-2006 term. The Court is expected to address whether the 2003 decision was intended to eliminate all bases for a RICO violation with respect to clinic blockades. Bloomberg has more.

The Court also granted certiorari Tuesday in Rice v. Collins, a Ninth Circuit case involving a prosecutor striking a black woman from the jury panel in the trial of a black man for drug charges, and a Sixth Circuit capital case, House v. Bell involving the standard for judging a claim of actual innocence. The Court's full Order List [PDF] is available online.

[JURIST] Insurgents struck the convoy of Dhari Ali al-Fayahd with a suicide car bomb on Tuesday, killing the senior member of Iraq's parliament along with his son and three bodyguards. Al-Fayahd, a Shiite in his 80s who was misidentified as Sunni in early press reports, was the second parliamentarian killed since the April elections [JURIST news archive]. The attack came on the one-year anniversary of the formal transfer of power from the US to Iraqis [JURIST report], an event due to be marked by a speech by President Bush from Fort Bragg Tuesday evening. While the insurgency has become more deadly since the elections, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari [Wikipedia profile] said Monday two years would be "enough" to establish security in Iraq. US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said over the weekend, however, that the process could take up to 12 years. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] US Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official Bunnatine Greenhouse testified [opening statement PDF] Monday at a hearing [PDF] before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee [official website] that after "exhausting all internal avenues" she had to "disclose to appropriate members of Congress serious and ongoing contract abuse" by Halliburton [official website] subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) [official website]. Greenhouse cited government favoritism for KBR and overcharging for goods and services. Greenhouse's statement came as the minority staff of the House Government Reform Commitee and the staff of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee released a report [PDF] detailing results of an investigation by the Defense Contract Audit Agency [official website]. According to the report, Halliburton's total "questioned" and "unsupported" costs exceed $1.4 billion. Halliburton strongly rejected the accusations voiced at the hearing, and the Pentagon and the Corps have denied any special treatment for KBR. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Australian officials Tuesday announced a new series of anti-terror raids in Sydney and Melbourne, re-igniting a debate over the country's tough anti-terrorism laws. No arrests were made or individuals detained as a result of the second sweep in a week by agents of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization [official website]. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has denied claims that his office leaked details [Melbourne Age report] of the raids to the media. Brian Walters, president of Liberty Victoria [advocacy website], complained that the laws promote "demonizing people who cannot defend themselves" [World Today interview]. "The press have not surprisingly camped outside these people's homes wanting a response, but if, as the Government well knows, if these people are to give any response at all, they run a grave risk of being charged with a serious criminal offense," he said. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said the raids have created a "police state" [News.com.au report] atmosphere in the country. Ruddock and New South Wales Premier Bob Carr defended the raids [News.com.au report], saying they address matters of "utmost seriousness" [The Australian report]. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] According to a senior United Nations official, top Kyrgyz officials promised Monday not to forcibly deport Uzbek refugees who fled a bloody May uprising in Andijan [JURIST report]. Approximately 450 of the 500 Uzbeks who originally fled to Kyrgyzstan remain, with four of the refugees deported [JURIST report] earlier this month against UN objections. Assistant UN High Commissioner for Refugees Kamel Morjane stated that Acting Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev [Wikipedia profile] "confirmed that nobody will be sent back forcibly," including the 29 Uzbek refugees detained by Kyrgyz authorities and previously scheduled for return because of alleged crimes [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Advanced Micro Designs (AMD) [corporate website] announced [corporate press release, open letter from CEO] Tuesday that it has filed a federal anti-trust lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against rival chip-maker Intel [corporate website]. The suit was filed yesterday in US District Court in Delaware and alleges that Intel bullied 38 companies into using Intel products to gain a monopoly [Clayton Anti-Trust Act backgrounder] in the microprocessor market. Intel holds an 80 percent market share by units sold and a 90 percent market share by revenue. The AMD suit claims Intel forced companies into exclusive deals and punished or discouraged them from using AMD products. Japan and the European Union have also scrutinized Intel's practices [Reuters report]. Intel has denied accusations from Japan's Fair Trade Commission that it curbed competition [JURIST report]. AP has more.

[JURIST] Nepal's anti-corruption panel has cleared ex-prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba [Wikipedia profile] and six former ministers of charges of misusing funds. According to a spokesman for the corruption commission, there was not enough evidence to find the accused guilty. Deuba and another former minister, Prakash Man Singh nontheless remain in jail for an additional corruption charge relating to a water project. Following his February takeover of the government of Nepal [JURIST news archive; BBC Q&A], Nepal's King Gyanendra [Wikipedia profile] set up the commission and provided it the power to investigate and arrest anyone on corruption charges, then to sentence those found guilty. Deuba and Singh argue the commission is unconstitutional and politically motivated and refuse to recognize it. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] An American-born Israeli soldier who refused to participate in the evacuation of settlers from Gaza [JURIST news archive] will face a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday, pending a possible continuance by his lawyer. Cpl. Avi Bieber was pulled away by fellow soldiers on Sunday [AP report] after telling his commander he wouldn't participate in the evacuation and shouting support to settlers, the first Israeli soldier to refuse orders related to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial disengagement plan. Bieber now faces charges [Jerusalem Post report] of refusing to obey an order and conduct unbecoming a soldier. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz Tuesday cautioned soldiers that the government would not tolerate or overlook refusing orders [Haaretz report], and warned settlers not to interfere with the evacuation process. The IDF also denied reports [Haaretz report] that other soldiers from Bieber's unit planned on joining him in the future.

[JURIST] A Milan judge Tuesday sentenced 11 men to up to two and a half years in jail for their roles in one of Europe's biggest financial scandals, the 2003 collapse of Parmalat [official website in English; BBC Q&A]. Based upon a plea bargain, the convicted men, including founder Calisto Tanzi, former chief financial officers Alberto Ferraris and Luciano Del Soldato, former finance chief Fausto Tonna, internal auditors, and Tanzi's brother and son, will not have to stand criminal trial in Milan. They could, however, still be indicted in Parma for false book-keeping, which carries much steeper charges than the market-related crimes tried in Milan. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A Muslim Russian national held at Guantanamo [JURIST news archive] from summer 2002 to February 2004 has filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging rights abuses. At a press conference on Tuesday in Moscow Airat Vakhitov - formerly an imam at a mosque in Tatarstan - said the abuses, such as being denied sleep, were mostly psychological [MosNews report], but he also echoed reports by other prisoners and US personnel [JURIST report] of abuse to the Koran [JURIST report], saying it was "thrown in the toilet in our presence." Captured in Afghanistan after being kidnapped by Islamic militants and taken there, he said one of the hardest parts of his ordeal was a flight from Kandahar to Guantanamo where he and other prisoners had to wear glasses, masks, and chains bound so tight as to leave scars: "Many people fainted due to a lack of oxygen [and] some went crazy during the flight." Vakhitov was released without facing charges months after he was returned to Russia. RIA Novosti has more.

[JURIST] Pakistan's Supreme Court [official website] Tuesday overturned the acquittals of 13 men in a gang-rape case and ordered them re-arrested after an appeal by the victim, Mukhtar Mai [BBC profile]. The attack was supposedly ordered by village elders in retaliation for an affair her brother had with a higher-caste woman. At first, six men were convicted and sentenced to death for the June 2002 attack but five were acquitted on appeal and the sixth had his sentenced reduced [JURIST report]. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Wikipedia profile] also temporarily revoked Mai's passport, but it has since been returned. The Supreme Court will hear appeals from Mai and the suspects at a future date. AP has more.