Although a previous March report [materials; JURIST report] by Freedom House showed that women's rights and opportunities had increased in nearly all Middle Eastern and North African countries over the last five years, the Middle East and North Africa were reported as the regions with the lowest level of freedom in 2010. Ukraine was pushed to the "Partly Free" list after repressing freedoms of the press and experiencing election fraud [JURIST report] and the politicization of the judiciary. In April, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy group] urged the Ukrainian government to ensure accountability for human rights violations [JURIST report]. AI also urged Ukraine to record and monitor incidents of racially motivated crimes and to create a fair asylum system. Mexico lost its "Free" status after the government's failure [JURIST report] to curb the country's violence and drug trafficking. Freedom House measures civil liberties and political rights [backgrounder] of a country and assigns an overall "freedom status" of "Free," "Partly Free," or "Not Free" based on the results.

In December, Picard filed close to 60 lawsuits in an attempt to recover more than $40 billion [JURIST report] from numerous banks, hedge funds and individuals, coinciding with the two-year deadline for seeking compensation. In November 2009, David Friehling, former outside accountant for Madoff, pleaded guilty to fraud charges [JURIST report] in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, but denied knowledge of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. In June 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison [JURIST report] on securities fraud charges stemming from his multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, the largest in US history.

New York City employs approximately 80,000 public school teachers [official backgrounder], of whom 12,000 were included in the TDR pilot program that began during the 2007-08 academic year. The reports rely on standardized tests [official materials] to compare predicted student progress to actual improvement, attributing the difference to the effectiveness of the student's teacher after correcting for variables such as the student's poverty level and native language. TDRs have been disclosed previously under FOIL, though the releases did not include teachers' names.

[JURIST] A California federal judge was appointed Thursday to hear the trial of Arizona shooting [NYT backgrounder] suspect Jared Loughner. Judge Alex Kozinski [official biography] of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] appointed Judge Larry Burns [Judgepedia profile] of the US District Court for the Southern District of California [official website] to preside over federal proceedings against Loughner in connection with the high-profile shooting at a political rally outside a Safeway in Tuscon, Arizona, that took the lives of a nine-year-old girl, Chief Judge John Roll [WSJ profile] of the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] and four others. Fourteen others were injured in the incident, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Burns, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003, has experience trying high-profile felony cases. In 2007, he presided over the trial of Mexican drug lord Francisco Javier Arellano [JURIST report; press release] and in 2005 over the high-profile prosecution [JURIST report; plea agreement, PDF] of former Rep. Randall Cunningham (R-CA) on bribery charges. The appointment comes one day after all federal judges in Arizona recused themselves [AP report] from the case following an order Wednesday from US District Judge Roslyn Silver advising on the impartiality pitfalls that would be implicated if the case were heard by an Arizona federal judge. Loughner faces the death penalty if convicted, and is being defended by high-profile attorney Judy Clarke, who previously defended "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski [FBI backgrounder]. He is currently being held in Phoenix without bail [AP report]. While it has not yet been determined where the trial will be held, proceedings are expected to continue January 24 in Phoenix.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed [press release, PDF; JURIST report] emergency legislation [SB1101 materials; text] on Tuesday making it a crime to picket or protest a funeral after Reverend Fred Phelps's Westboro Baptist Church [official website; WARNING: readers may find material at this church website offensive] announced plans to picket the funeral of Christina Green, a 9-year-old girl killed Saturday in the shooting. On Monday, federal prosecutors charged Loughner [criminal complaint, PDF; JURIST report] with murder and attempted murder for his role in Saturday's attack. President Barack Obama has directed that the investigation into the shooting be conducted [press release] by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] and coordinated by Director Robert Mueller [official profile]. Authorities arrested Loughner on Saturday and are searching for a possible accomplice [press release]. Due to the polarized political candidate, many suspect that the attack was politically motivated [ABC report]. Giffords has received harsh criticism in Arizona for her vote for the health care reform law [HR 3590; JURIST news archive] and was among those members of Congress who reported threats or vandalism in 2010. Giffords also was an outspoken critic of Arizona's controversial immigration law [SB 1070 text; JURIST news archive]. Ultimately, a clear motive into the shootings has yet to be identified.

The proceedings mark the third time an immunity law protecting Berlusconi has been submitted to constitutional review. Laws submitted to the Constitutional Court in January 2004 and in October 2009 [JURIST reports] were both determined to be unconstitutional. In April 2010, Italian prosecutors sought to indict Berlusconi [JURIST report] on fraud and embezzlement charges involving his media company. The law granting Berlusconi immunity was approved [JURIST report] by the Chamber of Deputies [official website, in Italian] in February. In January, hundreds of Italy's judges walked out of their courtrooms to protest the passage of legislation that placed strict time limits [JURIST reports] on the trial and appeals process. Both laws have been criticized as being tailored for Berlusconi's benefit. He currently faces corruption and tax fraud trials, both of which have been postponed [JURIST report]. The leader has been previously acquitted of false accounting and bribery, and has had other charges against him dropped [JURIST reports].

In December, DOJ filed suit [complaint text; press release] against units of British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website] and several other companies over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill [JURIST report]. In September, a federal judge denied [JURIST report] the government's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by several drilling companies challenging the offshore drilling moratorium. The judge held that there were "no substantial changes" between the July 12 directive and its predecessor, issued on May 28, that the new moratorium did nothing to amend or prevent the wrongs found in the first and that the wrongful behavior alleged in the original order could reasonably be expected to occur as a result of the more recent iteration. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana rejected a request to reinstate the May 28 ban in July, weeks after the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit similarly declined [JURIST reports]. The DOJ originally asked the appeals court to stay the preliminary injunction [JURIST report] in June, on the basis that another deepwater spill could overwhelm the ongoing efforts to clean up the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill with catastrophic results. Lawyers for the DOJ also claimed that the district judge abused his discretion in issuing the injunction. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which occurred in April of last year, resulted in an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

In December, the Seventh Circuit declined [JURIST report] a request by Black for an en banc rehearing to reconsider the two remaining charges. Black originally faced 17 counts of fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering and tax evasion. He was accused [indictment, PDF] by the US government of diverting more than $80 million from Hollinger International and its shareholders [JURIST report] during Hollinger's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers. In July 2007, Black was convicted of mail fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 78 months in prison. The court of appeals initially rejected Black's appeal, holding that § 1346 may be applied in a private setting regardless of whether the defendant's conduct risked any foreseeable economic harm to the victim. The Supreme Court granted certiorari last year to determine the scope of the "honest services" clause, and held that Black had properly objected to the jury instructions at trial concerning the honest service doctrine and remanded the case to the circuit court for an opinion consistent with the judgment in Skilling v. United States [JURIST report]. Black is also currently facing charges before the US Tax Court for failure to pay nearly $71 million in taxes [Bloomberg report]. He denies being obligated to pay the taxes because he is not a US citizen.

I respect the work of photographers, as well as recognize the need to preserve opportunities for other artists to make fair use of photographic images. I often collaborate with photographers in my work, and I look forward to working with photos provided by the AP's talented photographers.

In February 2009 Fairey filed a lawsuit against AP [NYT report] in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] seeking a declaration that he did not violate AP's copyright through the use of the AP photo as the basis for an artistic rendering of Obama. AP subsequently filed a countersuit [AP press release] alleging that in fact Fairey had violated its copyrights. According to the AP, the posters and other merchandise based on the AP photo "copy all the distinctive and unequivocally recognizable elements of the [photo] in their entire detail, retaining the heart and essence of [the AP photo], including but not limited to its patriotic theme." In October 2009 Fairey released a statement [text, PDF] in which he admitted taking steps to conceal which photo he used at the basis for his "HOPE" Obama artwork.