The ruling Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority has chosen Mahmoud Abbas as its candidate in the January 9 election to replace Yasser Arafat, whom Abbas, 69, served as for many years as deputy of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Abbas has already been named to lead the PLO. AP has more.

The health of Chief Justice William Rehnquist remains largely a mystery since the disclosure several weeks ago that the nation's top jurist has thyroid cancer, but several upcoming events may serve as an indicator of the status of Rehnquist's condition, chief among which is the January inauguration of President Bush's second term. If Rehnquist, who [...]

In Monday's corporations and securities law news, Nevada Power Company has filed a federal lawsuit against several investment banking firms, including Citigroup, JP Morgan Securities and Barclays Bank, claiming they conspired with Enron Corp. to manipulate power markets. Nevada Power claims it lost over $200 million from overcharging for electricity from Enron. Paper Chase has [...]

NASD's National Adjudicatory Council (NAC) on Monday permanently barred Frank Quattrone from working in the securities industry in any capacity for refusing to testify about his possible involvment in document destruction and obstruction of justice while at Credit Suisse First Boston. The decision overrules that of an earlier hearing panel, which had decided merely to [...]

The outcome of a pending lawsuit may decide the San Diego mayoral election. Incumbent Dick Murphy finished with 2,205 more votes than Councilwoman Donna Frye, according to the San Diego Registrar of Voters. However, the League of Women Voters has brought an action contending that thousands of voters wrote in Frye's name, but failed to [...]

The US Senate has passed a bill increasing penalties for certain violations of copyright. The provisions, included in legislation approved, Saturday set up to three years in prison for those who videotape movies while in the theater, and stiff penalties for those who leak music or movies before their official release date. Also of note [...]

Civil Rights Enforcement by the Bush Administration, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University, released November 21, 2004 . Read the text of the report here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

An Afghan court held a preliminary appeal hearing Monday in the case of three Americans who were convicted for illegally detaining and torturing eight Afghans, including a supreme court judge, in a an illegal prison. The defendants will argue that they were not given the chance to present a proper defense at their September trial. [...]

Advocates for a constitutional amendment allowing foreign-born citizens to run for President who recently launched television ads promoting the idea (previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase) are now pressing their case online. Amend for Arnold, inspired by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is just one of several websites actively pushing for the revision of Article Section [...]

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is officially in the lead after Sunday's run-off presidential election in Ukraine, but opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, supported by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, has alleged massive fraud in vote counting and voter turnout in heavily pro-government regions. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had international election monitors present [...]