[JURIST] The US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] is pursuing fraud charges against four former Time Warner [corporate website] executives for their alleged involvement in a 2000-2002 plot to defraud investors by inflating advertising revenue, according to Monday reports. Charges against four other executives, including former head of the company's business affairs unit David Colburn [NYT report], have been settled. Reuters has more.

In 2005, Time Warner agreed to pay $300 million [JURIST report] to settle charges alleging that it overstated online advertising revenue and the number of its AOL Internet subscribers and committed other securities frauds. The SEC accused Time Warner of exaggerating the number of AOL subscribers in the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2001 so it could report to the investment community that it had met its new subscriber targets.

[JURIST] UK legislators Monday voted 336-176 against a proposed ban [Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill materials] on the use of human-animal hybrid embryo stem cells [JURIST news archive] in scientific and medical research. The decision was highly controversial, with many ban proponents arguing that it was necessary to prevent potential attempts at human genetic engineering. In a Sunday editorial [text] in the Observer, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown advocated against the ban, saying that hybrid embryos may help stem cell research find cures for degenerative diseases:

It was in 1998 that James Thomson, a scientist at the University of Wisconsin, successfully removed stem cells from spare embryos at fertility clinics.

His discovery established the world's first human embryonic stem cell line and launched stem cell research into the scientific mainstream.

A decade on from that moment of discovery, Parliament will make decisions this week that will affect not only the pace of scientific advance, but also the rights of different individuals to benefit from scientific advances already made in the complex field of embryology.

Should scientists be given the legal framework they say they need to pursue new cures and treatments through stem cell research or will we turn our back on these potential advances?

Should children who face death or critical illness find new hope in scientific advances that would allow their new brother or sister to be not just a blessing to their family, but also a saviour sibling to them? And should people be able to approach IVF clinics without fear of discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation?

My answer to all those questions is an unequivocal yes.

[JURIST] New Zealand's Human Rights Commission [official website] announced [press release] Monday that the Human Rights Review Tribunal [NZ Ministry of Justice materials] has found the nation's accident compensation system to be inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act [text], a 1990 law guaranteeing freedom from discrimination. The decision came in response to a challenge injured worker John Howard made to the country's Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act [text] when his age made him ineligible for the vocational rehabilitation he had been receiving, alleging that the Act permitted age discrimination and infringed on his right to work. The Human Rights Amendment Act [text] gave the Tribunal the right to declare inconsistencies in 2001, but Monday's announcement marked the first use of that power. The New Zealand Herald has more.

The government has discretion to appeal the decision. If the appeal is unsuccessful or if the government chooses not to challenge the Tribunal's ruling, the New Zealand Parliament [official website] will need to alter the offending provision to bring it into compliance. Minister for Accident Compensation Maryan Street [official profile] would be expected to provide guidance to Parliament on how to modify the discriminatory practices previously permitted under the Act.

[JURIST] Russian President Dmitry Medvedev [official profile] has signed a measure to establish an anti-corruption council to be headed by Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin [profile, in Russian], Medvedev announced at a Monday press conference [remarks]. Medvedev said that a comprehensive national anti-corruption program was necessary to tackle social and economic graft and also to eliminate a prevailing culture of corruption. Medvedev has previously vowed to clean up corruption in his inauguration speech [JURIST report]. RIA Novosti has more.

Corruption is an on-going problem in Russia. In 2006, Transparency International [advocacy website], an anti-corruption advocacy group, reported that incidents of corrupt activity were up to seven times more prevalent that year than they were in 2001. Bribes totaling $240 billion are taken by corrupt officials in Russia [JURIST news archive] on a yearly basis, according to a report by a senior Russian prosecutor earlier that year.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] denied certiorari Monday in Demjanjuk v. Mukasey [order, PDF; case docket], ending the appeals process of a deportation order for accused former Nazi concentration camp guard and Ohio resident John Demjanjuk [JURIST news archive]. Demjanjuk, twice stripped of his US citizenship, had argued that the immigration judge who ordered his deportation lacked the authority to do so. Demajanjuk was appealing a 2005 ruling [JURIST report] by then-US Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy ordering his deportation. Demjanjuk had previously lost an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals [DOJ backgrounder]. The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Demjanjuk's petition for review [PDF text] in January. Reuters has more.

Demjanjuk is suspected of being "Ivan the Terrible," an infamously brutal guard at Poland's Treblinka [PBS backgrounder] death camp during World War II. Demjanjuk has argued that the accusation is based on mistaken identity. The case dates back to 1977 [Cleveland Plain Dealer report], when the Justice Department originally asked for Demjanjuk's citizenship to be revoked. He was extradited to Israel and sentenced to death for war crimes, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1993 and he returned to the US. In 2002, Demjanjuk again lost his US citizenship [JURIST report] after a judge found that World War II evidence showed he worked in the Nazi concentration camps.

[JURIST] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official profile] personally received cash [Jerusalem Post report] from US businessman Morris Talansky while serving as a minister of industry, trade and labor, a state prosecutor said Monday in a hearing at the Supreme Court of Israel. Last week, police raided Olmert's offices [JURIST report] as part of the investigation into corruption allegations against Olmert. Talansky denied any wrongdoing in an interview on Israeli television, and he informed investigators Sunday that he would be leaving Israel for the US on May 26. Olmert's lawyers have filed a petition to overturn a lower court decision to hear Talansky's testimony before he leaves the country. Reuters has more. Ha'aretz has local coverage.

This is not the first time Olmert has been accused of involvement in questionable deals. In April 2007, Olmert was investigated for improperly favoring his supporters [JURIST report] in distributing business grants during his time as trade minister. In January 2007, the Israeli Ministry of Justice announced plans to launch an investigation [JURIST report] into allegations that he promoted the interests of two business associates during the 2005 state sale of Bank Leumi [corporate website]. Olmert has maintained that he is innocent throughout these scandals. On Sunday, law enforcement officials told Ha'aretz that the investigation into Olmert has revealed evidence that could lead to additional charges [Ha'aretz report].

[JURIST] The Iranian government is engaged in systematic human rights abuses, an Iranian human rights group said in an annual report released Sunday. The Defenders of Human Rights Centre, a group founded and headed by 2003 Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi [Nobel profile], condemned the government for continued harassment and intimidation of dissidents, students, reporters, labor activists and other government critics. The government of Iran declared the Centre illegal [advocacy website] in 2006 and threatened to arrest its leaders.

The report criticized the government's increased policing of women's veils [JURIST news archive] and the harsh punishments meted out to women found to be insufficiently covered, considering the practices to be violations of womens' rights. Last year, Ebadi called for a UN probe [JURIST report] into allegations that the Iranian government was denying women's rights. AFP has more.

[JURIST] Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua [BBC profile] told AFP Sunday that he would resign if the Supreme Court of Nigeria [official website] invalidated his victory in the disputed 2007 presidential election [JURIST report]. In March, Nigerian opposition leader and presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari [campaign website] asked the Supreme Court to review a February decision by the country's election tribunal to uphold [JURIST report] the results of the contested elections. Buhari alleges that the election was marred by rampant fraud [JURIST report], but the Nigerian Presidential Petitions Election Tribunal ruled that there was no evidence of malfeasance and upheld results showing victory for Yar'Adua. From Nigeria, This Day has local coverage.

In April 2007, the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Yar'Adua the winner of the country's presidential elections, prompting challenges from rival candidates Buhari and former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar [JURIST news archive]. The election tribunal ordered the INEC to turn over certified copies of the ballots [JURIST report] and provide information on all officials and staff employed for the elections.

[JURIST] Israel's Chief Rabbinate [official website, in Hebrew], the body that authorizes and conducts marriages in the country, should allow marriages between people of different religious faiths, Israeli Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann [official profile] said Sunday. The Chief Rabbinate currently requires all marriages to adhere to Orthodox Jewish law and traditionally does not allow members of different religious faiths to marry. Last Tuesday, former Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court Aharon Barack [official profile] called on the Knesset [official website] to amend marriage laws [Ynetnews.com report] to provide Israeli citizens with a civil alternative to religious marriages. Ynetnews.com has more.

Considerable confusion exists over who qualifies for marriage in Israel due to controversies over conversion and the difficulties in establishing evidence of Jewish heritage among immigrants to Israel. Even converts to Orthodox Judaism can be denied marriage licenses [Jewish Telegraphic Agency report]. In March 2005, the Supreme Court of Israel eased [JURIST report] certain conversion laws regarding non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism not performed in Israel.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] handed down four decisions [order list, PDF] Monday, including United States v. Rodriquez [LII case backgrounder], where the Court ruled [text] that for purposes of increasing a sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) [text] a conviction qualifies as a predicate serious drug offense even when the crime is made punishable by a 10-year prison term only because of additional penalties imposed on repeat offenders. The ruling reversed the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's judgment [PDF text] that sentence enhancements are not to be taken into account when determining whether a given crime constitutes an ACCA predicate offense. Justice Souter, joined by Ginsburg and Stevens, filed a dissent [texts]. AP has more.

In United States v. Williams [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held that the PROTECT Act [text], aimed at preventing the pandering or solicitation of child pornography, was not unconstitutionally broad or vague, unlike similar laws [Child Pornography Prevention Act] challenged in the past. The ruling reversed a holding [PDF text] by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Read the 7-2 opinion of the court, delivered by Scalia; Stevens' concurrence, joined by Breyer; and Souter's dissent [texts], joined by Ginsburg. Reuters has more.

In United States v. Ressam [LII backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court voted 8-1 to uphold the conviction of so-called "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam [PBS profile]. The Court reversed the judgment [PDF text] of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and ruled that Ressam could be convicted and sentenced under a law [text] punishing the carrying of explosives while committing a felony even if the explosives were not related to the felony offense. Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court; Thomas, joined by Scalia, concurred in part and concurred in the judgment; Breyer wrote a dissent [texts]. The Washington Post has more.

In Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court ruled that Kentucky may tax interest earned on out-of-state municipal bonds while exempting from taxation the interest income from similar in-state bonds without violating the US Constitution's Commerce Clause. The ruling reversed a decision [PDF text] by the Kentucky Court of Appeals holding that the system improperly burdened interstate commerce. The case's particulars resulted in an unusual number of filings: Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part III–B; Stevens and Breyer joined that opinion in full; Roberts and Ginsburg joined all but Part III–B; and Scalia joined all but Parts III–B and IV. Stevens filed a concurring opinion; Roberts and Scalia filed opinions concurring in part; Thomas filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Kennedy filed a dissent, in which Alito joined, although Alito also filed his own short dissent [texts]. AP has more.