Leading Friday's international brief, opposition members in Togo clashed with police on the first day of political campaigning for the national elections required by the resignation of Faure Gnassingbe . Protesters blocked off several streets with barricades of burning tires and were dispersed by the police firing tear gas into the crowd. Faure's agreement to [...]

The Justice Department announced late Thursday that US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will not oversee the Enron criminal proceedings . While no reason was given for the decision, Gonzales did legal work for Enron in the early 1990s, and accepted a $6,000 campaign contribution from an Enron political committee. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft also [...]

In Friday's environmental law news, CSX Transportation Inc. and the federal government have refused a proposal by US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to help settle a dispute with Washington DC officials over the city's plan to ban railroad shipments of hazardous cargo. The ban, passed by the DC Council and signed by Mayor Anthony [...]

The New York Times reported Friday that documents for a transaction at the center of a wide-ranging probe into American International Group Inc. were doctored two months after the deal was made. The deal was reportedly "repapered" by mid-level employees of General Re , a unit of Berkshire Hathaway . Lawyers for Berkshire Hathaway discovered [...]

A new poll shows that sixty-one percent of Japanese voters support amending the country's US-drafted pacifist constitution but there is disagreement about how far Japan should move from its renunciation of war. Article 9 of the Japanese constitution renounces the right to keep a military or threaten military action. This is the second year in [...]

The two main parties in Mexico's Congress joined forces late Thursday to strip Mexico City's mayor Manuel Lopez Obrador of immunity so he can be charged with contempt of court, threatening his bid for the presidency in 2006 . The charges stem from a relatively minor land expropriation dispute and it is unclear if Lopez [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Friday, April 8. The US House opens its session at 10 AM ET today. Watch a live webcast. The US Senate is not in session. The University of South Carolina School of Law is hosting the 2005 Rudolph C. Barnes [...]

Ruling modifying publication ban, Justice John H. Gomery, Gomery Commission, April 7, 2005 . Excerpt: I am of the opinion that almost all of Mr. Brault's testimony and the documentation filed as part of his evidence have little to do with the accusations of fraud and conspiracy that he is facing. It is in the [...]

Resolution 1595, UN Security Council, April 7, 2005 . Read the full text of the resolution as incorporated in a UN press release. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Reforming UN Human Rights Machinery, address by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the UN Commission on Human Rights, April 7, 2005 . Excerpt: As you know, I have recommended that Member States replace the Commission on Human Rights with a smaller Human Rights Council. The Commission in its current form has some notable strengths. It [...]