[JURIST] The Bush administration indicated Thursday that it is against extending the current Terrorism Risk Insurance Act [PDF] when it expires at the end of the year, saying it was meant to be temporary. The law was enacted after 9/11 and offered government aid to insure against losses as a result of terrorist attacks, mainly for large construction projects. US Treasury Secretary John Snow [official profile] released a report [PDF] saying that an extension would "crowd out innovation" [press release] and hinder private development, while Senator Charles Schumer [official website], a supporter of the extension, criticized the report as being "slanted" [press release] and said it will be difficult for large projects to go forward without the insurance. The White House will, however, consider an extension if the act is amended to reflect higher deductibles and an increase in the size of the types of catastrophic events that would be covered. Insurers have joined with a coalition of businesses and industry members in saying that the Treasury report does not reflect the current terrorism insurance marketplace. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UN Compensation Committee [official website] approved the final claims [press release] from victims of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait [BBC backgrounder] Thursday, bringing the total award payments to $52.5 billion. The panel, which consists of the fifteen permanent members of the UN Security Council [official website], made awards Thursday to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Jordan totaling over $366 million. The commission has processed more than 2.68 million claims over the past twelve years, which were funded by five percent of Iraq's oil sales. The claims processing goal of the committee is finished, but the panel will continue to make payments in the amount of $200 million every three months. Individuals receive payments first over oil companies, which will be paid last. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Spanish Catholic Bishops Conference Thursday deplored the 187-147 vote by the country's Congress of Deputies [official website in Spanish] to legalize same-sex marriage [JURIST report], calling for citizens to publicly oppose the law "through all legitimate means". In a statement [press release in Spanish] the bishops said "Today the words 'husband' and 'wife' have been systematically eliminated from the Code, in such a way that marriage, insofar as union of a man and a woman, is no longer contemplated by our laws." ZENIT has more.

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's corporations and securities law news, as expected, SEC Chairman William Donaldson [official profile] officially stepped down today, having announced his resignation earlier this month [JURIST report]. Donaldson steered the regulatory agency for the last two-plus years through an era of intense activity and litigation. President Bush has named SEC Commissioner Cynthia Glassman [official profile] as the acting SEC Chairman until the Senate confirms Donaldson's permanent replacement, expected to be White House nominee and Congressman Christopher Cox [JURIST report]. AP has more.

In other corporations and securities law news...

• KPMG's Canadian auditing unit has settled with the SEC. KPMG Canada [corporate website] was censured for providing bookkeeping services to the now-bankrupt Southwestern Water Exploration Co. while also auditing the company. In a press release, the SEC announced that KPMG has agreed to pay $76,000 in fees and that two of KPMG Canada's executives have agreed to temporary bans from representing companies before the SEC. KPMG Canada said in its own statement that the settlement "reflects KPMG LLP (Canada)’s commitment to work constructively with regulators." AP has more.
  
  
• As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, Bernard Ebbers [Wikipedia profile] has forfeited almost all of his possessions as part of a settlement with former shareholders of his bankrupt company, WorldCom [JURIST news archive]. Ebbers will be forced to liquidate his nearly $40 million fortune to settle the multiple lawsuits brought against him by shareholders who lost billions in the company's bankruptcy. Ebbers was convicted of corporate fraud in March [JURIST report] and faces up to 85 years in prison. The New York Times has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives passed a measure Thursday which would cut federal funding for development projects that involve seizure of private property. The legislation approved 231-189 was proposed in response to last week's US Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain [JURIST report] and was inserted as an amendment to a spending bill [text] for the Treasury, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development departments. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) [official website] sponsored the bill and denounced the Supreme Court's eminent domain decision by saying, "Once again, the highest court in the land has shown its inability to interpret the Constitution and defend the liberties and freedoms our forefathers so desperately envisioned when they established our great nation." Reuters has more.

Meanwhile, members of both the House and Senate Thursday promised similar bills to pull funding from government projects where individual homeowners are forced to sell their property in order for strip malls or hotels to be built in their place. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) [official website], chairman of the House Judiciary Committee [official website], and ranking minority member Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) [official website] said they will propose the Private Property Rights Protection Act to combat eminent domain. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) [official website] and Bill Nelson (D-FL) [official website] are also joining forces to introduce the Protection of Homes, Small Businesses and Private Property Act [text, PDF] which will limit eminent domain to "public use" situations rather than promote private economic development.

The debate over the high court's ruling [JURIST report] has nonetheless not been without its partisanship. Within the Wisconsin Congressional caucus, for example, Rep. Sensenbrenner has criticized the Supreme Court's ruling by saying it "has the potential of becoming the Dred Scott decision] of the 21st century" while fellow Wisconsan Rep. David Obey [official website], ranking Democrat of the House Appropriations Committee [official website] and a supporter of the eminent domain ruling, has reminded Congress of the "system of separation of powers." The Washington Post has more.

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's states brief, the Washington Supreme Court ruled today that the Seattle Times [newspaper website] could count monetary losses it incurred during a 2000 strike in its effort to end its joint operating agreement with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer [Wikipedia profile; newspaper website]. In its opinion [text], the Supreme Court agreed with the Times that the monetary losses from the strike were "agency expenses" under the agreement and could be used to calculate "agency revenues." The Times is seeking to invoke a clause in the joint operating agreement that allows either paper to end the agreement if it suffers three consecutive years of losses. The Hearst Corporation [official website], the parent company of The Seattle P-I, argued that losses caused by extraordinary events should not be counted. Further litigation regarding the joint operating agreement is expected. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch announced [RI Attorney General press release] today a $10 million settlement with DuPont Co. [corporate website] over a lawsuit in which the state claimed the company created a public health threat in the form of lead paint. Several million dollars of the settlement will go to the Children's Health Forum to remove lead paint and educate the public, and one million dollars will go the Brown University Medical School for research. The settlement is the result of a 1999 lawsuit by the state against seven manufacturers of lead-based paint. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, and a new trial involving the six remaining defendants is scheduled for September. AP has more.
  
  
• The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a state law providing an inherent characteristic defense does not bar all lawsuits against tobacco companies. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company [corporate website] argued a lawsuit against them should be dismissed in its entirety because of the law and a 2003 state Supreme Court decision which prohibited lawsuits for damages caused by manufactured commercial cigarettes. In the opinion [PDF text] Justice Mike Randolph said, the 2003 case concluded that the state law precludes tobacco cases based upon product liability, but not all tobacco cases "which could be based on other possible theories of recovery." An inherent characteristic under the Mississippi Products Liability Act [text] is a generic aspect that can not be eliminated without substantially compromising the product's usefulness or desirability and which is recognized by the ordinary person with ordinary knowledge common to the community. AP has more.
  
  
• Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski [official website] has signed legislation making public the disciplinary records of school employees convicted of sexually abusing students. The bill [text] also requires school boards to adopt policies about reporting child abuse and to place a school employee on paid administrative leave when there is "reasonable cause" to support a sex abuse report until the state Department of Human Services or the police decide to pursue or dismiss an investigation. Oregon's Statesman Journal has local coverage.

[JURIST] Ismail Hussain, a defendant in the forgery trial [JURIST report] of Egyptian presidential candidate Ayman Nour [Wikipedia profile], on Thursday changed his plea to not guilty, saying he earlier made a false confession, acknowledging forging signatures under pressure from security officials. Nour's lawyers said afterwards that his own acquittal was more likely now. The retraction comes two days after a contentious start to Nour's trial [JURIST report] in which hundreds gathered outside the courthouse to protest what they saw as attempt to eliminate any rivals to current President Hosni Mubarak [official profile]. Aljazeera has more.

[JURIST] Ohio Governor Bob Taft [official website] Thursday vetoed as too restrictive [press release] a ban on using funds from a high-tech job initiative [Third Frontier program website] to pay for embryonic stem cell research. Taft said that the ban in its current form would ban funding for stem cell work that is currently acceptable under federal regulations supported by President Bush. The Republican governor received praise from some Democrats for his decision to veto the ban and Democrats may now be willing to back a proposed $500 million bond package held up over the stem cell issue. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George W. Bush unveiled a $55 million initiative "to support women's justice and empowerment in Africa" at the White House Thursday. The stated goals of the plan [White House fact sheet], part of a larger $400 million committment to aiding Africa announced in advance of the upcoming G8 summit [official website] focused on Africa [G8 issue backgrounder] and implementation of the UN's Millenium Development Goals [official website], are to" strengthen the capacity of the legal system to protect women and punish violators by training police, prosecutors, and judges in sexual violence and abuse cases against women, and developing or strengthening laws which protect women and empower their role in society" while addressing the various needs of women who have already become victims of abuse and violence. In his remarks [text] Thursday the President talked about the need to "give more girls in Africa a real chance to avoid exploitation and to chart their own future." AFP has more.

[JURIST] UK-based human rights groups Statewatch [advocacy website], Campaign Against Criminalising Communities [advocacy website], and the Human Rights and Social Justice Institute [advocacy website] at the London Metropolitan University have collectively denounced [report] the practice of "proscribing” - or labelling groups and individuals as terrorists - to criminalize their behavior in an manner that provides no opportunity for appeal. According to the groups, Britain, the US, the UN, and the EU all have banned various listed [Statewatch list of UK, US, UN and EU terror lists; comparative analysis] "international terrorist organizations" and individuals and the US has frozen the assets of groups who are believed to "support terrorism" while the normal judicial processes governing such serious accusations have been swept aside. Statewatch provides additional background. IPS has more.

[JURIST] US officials said Thurday that the US would investigate allegations that Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [BBC profile] was among the revolutionary students responsible for taking American embassy staff in Tehran hostage in 1979 and holding them for 444 days [Jimmy Carter Library backgrounder]. Five former US hostages claim Ahmadinejad was one of their captors while one says he was interrogated by the president-elect. Associates of Ahmadinejad deny the claims, although his website [in Farsi] says that he helped to found the student union which took over the US embassy. Aljazeera reported last week that

As a young student, Ahmadinejad joined an ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the radical student group spawned by the 1979 Islamic Revolution and staged the capture of the US Embassy. According to reports, Ahmadinejad attended planning meetings for the US Embassy takeover and at these meetings lobbied for a simultaneous takeover of the Soviet Embassy.

[JURIST] Cyprus [government website] on Thursday ratified the European Constitution [JURIST news archive] after a special two-day session of the country's parliament [official website]. Lawmakers approved the charter 30-19 in an attempt to counteract the devastating rejections handed down by France [JURIST report] and the Netherlands [JURIST report]. Cyprus was one of 10 new members that joined the EU in May 2004 [EU enlargement website] despite the failure of a UN peace plan to reunify the eastern Mediterranean island after nearly thirty years of division. The sole abstention came from Cyprus Greens [official website] MP George Perdikis, whose party had called for a referendum and suspended vote on the charter. The next significant test for the comatose constitution is a referendum in Luxembourg [JURIST report] scheduled for July 10. AFP has more.

[JURIST] The European Union on Thursday banned the trade of instruments "that have no use other than for capital punishment or torture" according to a European Commission statement. Banned goods include belts that shock with electricity, electric chairs and guillotines. Strict controls will also be imposed on other items, such as leg irons and electric shock weapons, which are able to be used to torture or other cruel or inhumane punishment. A Commission spokesperson acknowledged that the ban was largely symbolic given the small market for such items but stressed that it brought the rules "in line with our political principles." Amnesty International [advocacy website] called the ban a positive step but added that it would do nothing to stop many kinds of mental or moral torture. Review the Guidelines to EU policy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. EUobserver has more.

[JURIST] The Dutch government said Thursday that police in more than a dozen countries have confiscated computers and made arrests in an illegal file-swapping sweep led by US authorities. The raids occurred Wednesday in the Netherlands, Australia, Israel, Germany, South-Korea, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Canada and Hungary, said a spokeswoman for the Dutch Finance Ministry [official website; press release in Dutch]. Most of those arrested are suspected of infringing the copyright of films, software and video games. The raids come in the wake of a landmark US Supreme Court ruling [JURIST report; PDF opinion] Monday that Internet file-trading networks, including Grokster and Morpheus, can be held liable when users copy music, movies and other media without permission. Reuters has more.

3:45 PM ET - The US Justice Department has since issued this press release on "Operation Site Down", described as

the culmination of three separate undercover investigations conducted by the FBI. In the past 24 hours, more than 70 searches were executed in the United States, and more than 20 overseas. Four individuals were arrested in the United States, and searches and/or arrests occurred in the following 10 countries: Canada, Israel, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Australia. At least eight major online distribution sites were dismantled, preventing tens of millions of further losses to the content industry. More than 120 leading members of the organized online piracy underground were identified by the investigation to date, and as the investigations continue, additional targets will be identified and pursued.

[JURIST] European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso [official website] Thursday called for a "period of reflection" on the proposed European constitution [JURIST news archive], now largely in political limbo, in order to "reconnect with our citizens and stimulate a genuine, wide-ranging - but focused - debate." Barroso said "no" votes by France and the Netherlands would be respected [UK Press Association report], but also called the proposed constitution "the best possible compromise" and a "victim of circumstance" [full text of speech]. The French in particular are said to have been more concerned with perceived failures of President Jacques Chirac [JURIST report] than with the constitution itself. RTE News has more.

[JURIST] Reporting on their weekend visit [JURIST report] to Guantanamo [JURIST news archive], lawmakers told the US House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that conditions at the facility were better than expected. Committee Chair Duncan Hunter (R-CA) [official site] said the hearings should lay to rest "irresponsible allegations" about poor conditions there. Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, the general in charge of the prison, said investigators were "just beginning" to get useful information [Los Angeles Times report] from detainees and that it was "obvious" that the facility needs to remain open. Democrats complained that the hearing was skewed by a refusal to hear testimony from a lawyer representing the detainees themselves. Reuters has more. The House Armed Services Committee provides recorded audio of Wednesday's hearing, as well as a copy of the Guantanamo detainee menu [PDF].

[JURIST] Despite the Australian government's recently-announced changes to the system [Sydney Morning Herald report], Amnesty International said Thursday in a new report [text] that Australia's asylum policy is still "tragically flawed" [interview with AI Australia president]. AI says the controversial policy [JURIST report] of mandatory administrative detention results in "prolonged and potentially indefinite" detentions for those seeking relief from human rights violations. While it said new changes to reporting and review procedures [Daily Telegraph report] are a step in the right direction, more change is necessary. Read the AI press release.

[JURIST] Robert Weiner, a former public affairs aide in the Clinton White House and now head of a Washington, DC media relations firm [firm website], said in an op-ed [text] in Thursday's Boston Globe that the upcoming trial of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] "could easily backfire and go haywire from the US government's point of view". Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari wants the trial "over and done with" [JURIST report] and said Wednesday it could start in "a month or two" [Reuters report], but other officials have mentioned outside pressure to delay the trial [JURIST report], with one even accusing the US of pressing for delay because it has "secrets to hide" [JURIST report]. Weiner and co-author Alexis Levinthal write:

Saddam could easily point out that our interests were protected when he was in power and remind the world of US and European support and arms to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq conflict. Even more embarrassing to the United States, he could bring out that the CIA used and paid him...

[JURIST] Just days after filing a federal antitrust lawsuit [JURIST report] against rival Intel, Advanced Micro Designs (AMD) [corporate website] has filed two similar suits against Intel in Japan. The company announced [corporate press release] Thursday that its Japanese arm, AMD Japan, had made two claims in Tokyo High Court and Tokyo District Court against Intel KK [corporate website in Japanese], Intel's Japanese subsidiary. Japan's Fair Trade Commission [official website, English version] had previously warned [JURIST report] Intel of possible violations, and ruled in March [JFTC press release] that they violated antitrust laws by offering rebates [Reuters report] to companies that either limited or avoided AMD purchases.

On Wednesday, AMD also took the battle against Intel to the court of public opinion, running full-page ads in major newspapers nationwide and publishing an open letter on their litigation on their website. Attorneys not party to the case cited the advertising campaign as "unusual", some dismissing it as merely for "publicity purposes". The San Jose Mercury News has more.

[JURIST] Wire services are reporting that former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers [JURIST news archive], convicted of fraud [JURIST report] in March for his part in an $11 billion accounting scandal, will forfeit as much as $45 million worth of personal assets in a settlement of related civil charges. The deal, announced by the New York Attorney General's office Thursday, will require him to pay $5 million directly and transfer almost all his other assets - worth as much as $40 million -into a liquidation trust to be sold off. This arrangement will, however, allow Ebbers to avoid paying restitution which could have been much more costly. A judge must still approve the settlement, and Ebbers still faces life in prison [AP report] at his sentencing, now scheduled for July 13 after a month's postponement [AP report].

[JURIST] TIME magazine said in a statement Thursday that it will turn over notes by reporter Matthew Cooper to a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA operative's name despite Cooper's own willingness to go to jail rather than provide them. After the US Supreme Court Monday declined to hear an appeal [JURIST report] by Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Judge Thomas F. Hogan [official profile] Wednesday gave Miller and Cooper one week to reveal their sources or face up to 120 days imprisonment, equivalent to the duration of the grand jury's term. In its statement TIME complained that "the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society", but observed:

The same Constitution that protects the freedom of the press requires obedience to final decisions of the courts and respect for their rulings and judgments. That Time Inc. strongly disagrees with the courts provides no immunity. The innumerable Supreme Court decisions in which even Presidents have followed orders with which they strongly disagreed evidences that our nation lives by the rule of law and that none of us is above it.

[JURIST] Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin, Sudan's justice minister, has rejected calls for the extradition of 10 suspects to face charges for war crimes in Darfur before the the International Criminal Court [official website] in The Hague. Yassin said the men are already on trial in a Sudanese court [JURIST report], where they have pleaded not guilty [JURIST report]. Rights groups have questioned the effectiveness [JURIST report] of Sudan's recently-established Darfur court, concerned that it was created only to sidestep international justice. On Wednesday, ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo [BBC profile] asked the UN Security Council and UN members - including Sudan - to support the ICC's efforts [JURIST report] to punish war criminals. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The US Justice Department has officially ended its probe into Royal Dutch/Shell Group [corporate website], announcing on Wednesday that it will not prosecute the company for overstating gas and oil reserves [JURIST report]. Shell had previously settled civil investigations [JURIST report] by both the US and UK governments, and accepted the resignation of its chief financial officer [JURIST report]. Shell said it "appreciates" [press release] the decision. AP has more.

[JURIST] Despite being voted down in the Senate [JURIST report], the Spanish parliament on Thursday passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive] and allowing same-sex couples to adopt and inherit each other's property. Read the text of the legislation [PDF, in Spanish]. Spain now joins the Netherlands and Belgium as the only countries to recognize gay marriages. The Canadian House of Commons approved them on Tuesday [JURIST report], with full legal status to follow in July after the Canadian Senate gives its anticpated approval. The Spanish Senate serves an advisory function only, with the Congress of Deputies [official website, English version] having the final say. The 350-member body voted 187-147 to approve, despite protests from the Roman Catholic Church [JURIST rpeort], which officially endorsed protests against the Spanish government [JURIST report] for the first time in 20 years. Reuters has more. From Madrid, El Mundo provides local coverage in Spanish.