A new State Department report lists a number of Asian nations among those countries which are most restrictive of religious freedoms, with China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Burma listed as "countries of particular concern." Countries whose governments systematically restrict religious liberties receive this classification, and while President Bush is authorized to impose political and economic sanctions against countries on the list, Secretary of State Colin Powell has stated that the US will instead use diplomacy to encourage nations to respect religious freedom.

Other "nations of concern" are Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan, and - for the first time in this annual series of reports on religious liberty - Saudi Arabia, a major US ally in the Middle east. VOA News has more. AP and the Religion News Service focus on the claims made against Saudi Arabia. Read the State Department report and a transcript of Wednesday's press conference with Secretary Powell here.

Updating an earlier report in JURIST's Paper Chase on claims by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the US-led war in Iraq constituted a violation of international law, officials from Britain, Poland, Australia, and the US insisted on Thursday that the war was legal. Annan told the BBC on Wednesday that the war was a violation of the UN Charter.

The officials sharply criticized Annan's remarks, while the UN downplayed the situation, saying that Annan's position on the conflict has long been known to member nations (read a UN news release here). AP has more. BBC News covers the reaction of the US State Department to Annan's statements. The BBC has posted excerpts and video from Annan's interview here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected the possibility of negotiations with Chechen rebels at a news conference Thursday, equating the rebels' terrorist actions with those of Osama Bin Laden. The news comes as a disappointment to Western leaders who have pushed Moscow to find a peaceful solution to Chechen separatism, and who irked Putin by urging the Russian government to look to the root causes of the recent school-time hostage taking in Beslan. Putin called the rebels part of the "terrorist internationale" who could only be dealt with through "legality and toughness." Reuters has more. For more on Russia's recent hostage crisis in Beslan from JURIST's Paper Chase, click here.

UPDATE: An English-language transcript of President Putin's news conference is now online here from the Kremlin.

In Thursday's corporations and securities law news, federal regulators are investigating creditor actions in the WorldCom bankruptcy by demanding thousands of documents from bondholders related to the largest US bankruptcy in history. While the exact nature of the SEC investigation could not be determined, one source indicated the probe is not related to WorldCom. Read about the WorldCom bankruptcy and all related actions here. Reuters has more.

In other news...

• Sir Philip Watts, the former chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, has petitioned a British regulatory body to challenge some of its findings on Shell's oil reserves scandal and show he acted in good faith. AP has more.
  
  
• IBM attorneys argued that SCO Group's $5 billion suit should be dismissed because SCO failed to provide any evidence that IBM allowed proprietary Unix code to enter the freely distributed Linux operating system. SCO claims IBM is stonewalling in providing all the information necessary to prove its case. Read the SCO press release announcing the suit against IBM here. AP has more.
  
  
• Sonia Howe, who helped financier Martin Frankel steal $200 million from insurance companies in five states, was sentenced to four years in prison. AP has more.
  
  
• German microchip giant Infineon Technologies has agreed to plead guilty to charges that they engaged in price-fixing with other companies. The company agreed to pay $160 million and agreed to cooperate in the investigation into price-fixing of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips. Read the Infineon press release here. Read the DOJ press release here. AFP has more.
  
  
• The SEC is conducting a probe into four big banks: Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Wachovia Corp. and Switzerland's UBS AG, over their auction-rate bond operations. Reuters has more.
  
  
• TD Waterhouse, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank, is expected to pay a $2 million settlement for claims that it improperly paid several independent investment advisers. Reuters has more.
  
  
• A federal judge has ruled that claims filed against Lockheed Martin over the deadly 2003 workplace shootings that killed six people at the company's Meridian plant will not be limited by worker's compensation laws. The ruling in effect allows for larger monetary awards. The Clarion-Ledger has more.
  
  
• Alitalia announced it has moved a step closer to approval for its restructuring plan when it reached an agreement with unions representing its ground crew staff to cut 2,500 jobs and freeze pay. AP has more.
  
  
• The European Union indicates it will be difficult to accept a US demand to ban government loans for new Airbus SAS programs as part of changes to the aircraft-aid agreement which will also apply to Boeing Co. Bloomberg has more.
  
  
• News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch received a bonus of $12.5 million this year, a 40% increase from last year. CBS MarketWatch has more.

A Denver grand jury report [PDF] released Thursday concludes that the Jefferson County sheriff's office may have purposely destroyed documents regarding the investigation into the Columbine High School shootings. The report's criticism focuses in large part on John Kiekbusch, a former administrator in the sheriff's office, but the grand jury said that it did not have enough evidence to indict anyone because all witnesses disavowed any knowledge or involvement into the disappearance of the files. The report notes that Kiekbusch ended a 1999 effort to find the files and asked an assistant to shred a large pile of copies of Columbine related reports in 2000.

The search for the missing files center on a draft affidavit for a warrant to search Eric Harris' home a year before the Columbine shootings, which the sheriff's office prepared after being tipped that Harris built pipe bombs and made violent Internet postings. High-ranking Jefferson County officials and law enforcement agreed not to disclose the existence of the affidavit, but its existence was brought to light in 2001 when a judge ordered its release.

The Rocky Mountain News and AP have more. Read the grand jury's supplementary report here [PDF], or visit the Rocky Mountain News' special Columbine section for further information.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Thursday at a news conference that two men have been charged with financial support to terrorists and recruiting terror group members, including one person that US authorities identify as "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla.

The indictment handed up in federal district court in Miami details a September 2000 conversation between Adgan Amin Hassoun and Mohamed Hesham Youssef in which they discussed the travel of a US citizen who applied to attend a Middle Eastern terrorist camp. Although Attorney General Ashcroft did not name the citizen, law enforcement officials identify him as Padilla. AP has the full story. For the latest news on JURIST's Paper Chase regarding Jose Padilla, click here.

The US Transportation Department has dismissed a complaint filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center [EPIC] against Northwest Airlines Corp. The complaint was filed after Northwest shared passenger data with federal researchers weeks after the September 11 attacks. Samuel Podberesky, assistant general counsel for aviation enforcement, found Northwest did not violate its privacy policy and wrote that even if the company had, the policy was unenforceable because Northwest is required to share passenger data with the government upon request.

EPIC argued that Northwest promised not to "sell" passenger data to third parties but Podberesky found "sell" means just that, and leaves open the possibility of sharing data with the government. Read the order dismissing the EPIC complaint here[PDF]. EPIC will appeal. In June, a federal court in Minnesota dismissed seven class-action lawsuits brought by passengers against Northwest finding the passengers had not been harmed. Click for more information on the Northwest disclosure to federal agencies here. AP has more.

In Thursday's environmental law news, the EPA has announced that New Hampshire company Pilgrim Foods, Inc. has agreed to pay $190,000 plus interest for violating the Clean Water Act - in this instance, discharging wastewater over a period of many years into a stream on the company’s property that is a tributary of the Souhegan River. The wastewater was acidic and contained other pollutants and has caused significant damage to the brook. The company had also failed to apply for a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit to discharge stormwater, as well as other violations. For more, see the press release.

In other environmental law news...

• The Senate has unanimously passed HR 2828, better known as CalFed, which authorize the Secretary of the Interior to implement water supply technology and infrastructure programs in California. The bill will improve coordination between federal and California state agencies.
  
  
• The US Fish and Wildlife service seeks public comment on an assessment of a proposed stream restoration project and trout habitat enhancement [PDF] on the East Fork Sevier River in the Kingston Canyon Wildlife Management Area in Utah. Comments will be accepted until October 15, 2004, and can be made online here.

Manitoba has become the fourth province in Canada to legalize same-sex marriage, following Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia (see previous report on this story on JURIST's Paper Chase). Justice Douglas Yard ruled the definition of marriage is unconstitutional after three couples challenged the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Yard said "the traditional definition of marriage is no longer constitutionally valid in view of the provisions of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms." Despite this decision, the government retains the final decision on the defition of marriage. The Supreme Court of Canada is currently reviewing legislation that would change the definition of marriage. CBC has more.

Three same-sex couples in Oklahoma have filed a federal lawsuit in a bid to overturn a state law that prohibits the state from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries. The lawsuit alleges that the amendment to the Oklahoma Adoption Code, "appears to sever legal ties between parents and their children whenever families led by same-gender couples enter the state of Oklahoma" and violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

Governor Brad Henry signed the law in May after Attorney General Drew Edmondson issued an edict requiring the state to recognize all adoptions, regardless of the gender of the parents. Read the text of the Oklahoma House bill here. AP has more.

A Spanish judge has issued an order requesting that US authorities file criminal charges against Riggs Bank and its officers for concealing millions belonging to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. According to Thursday's order, Spanish officials will press money laundering charges against the bank and its executives if US officials do not act.

As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, an investigation conducted by Riggs has turned up evidence of wrongdoing by former account managers. CNN has more.

The Death Penalty Information Center is reporting that the number of people receiving the death penalty has fallen substantially over the past several years. In its forthcoming report on the US death penalty, DPIC says the reluctance of juries to sentence defendants to death can be attributed to uncertainty caused by the exoneration of prisoners in high-profile cases and state moratoriums on executions.

The DPIC has this press release and AP has more. Read the report's executive summary; the full report will be available online on September 20.

Turkey's ruling party has reversed its decision not to introduce a proposal to criminalize adultery, Turkish media reported Thursday. As reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Turkey said Tuesday that it would abandon its plan to criminalize adultery after pressure from the EU.

Turkey is currently overhauling its penal code as part of its efforts to become an EU member state. According to reports by CNN Turk and NTV, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has proposed replacing the word "adultery" with "sexual infidelity," saying that proposal would protect families and women who have been wronged by their husbands. AP has more. A summary of amendments to the Turkish Civil Code is online here.

The New York Times highlights the re=examination of Kentucky lethal injection practices, claiming some have been practically tortured to death in the past, Martha Stewart requesting to begin her sentence as soon as possible and has surrending a search for an appeal, contract negotiations on the horizon for the nations leading orchestras, and federal prosecutors announcing that they had cracked a global cartel that illegally fixed prices of memory chips in personal computers and servers for three years.

The Washington Post notes that a Washington Post reporter's confidential source has revealed his or her identity to the special prosecutor conducting the CIA Valerie Plame leak inquiry; the chief Pentagon prosecutor in the military trials of alleged al Qaeda fighters at has requested that the presiding officer in the Guantanamo Bay cases "closely evaluate" his impartiality and consider resigning; the Army colonel investigating involvement in detainee abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has recommended that Pfc. Lynndie R. England face a general court-martial; and that the Senate Appropriations Committee voted yesterday to block the Bush administration's controversial new overtime pay rules.

USA Today includes articles on two men charged in Miami on Thursday with providing financial support to terrorists and recruiting members for terror groups around the globe, and three gay couples who filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn a law that prohibits Oklahoma from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries.

Diplomat Donald Keyser has been arrested and charged with making a false statement to the FBI about a recent trip to Taiwan. Keyser served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs before moving to a different position several weeks ago.

Keyser is also under investigation for improperly passing documents "derived from material to which Keyser had access as a result of his employment with the Department of State" to Taiwanese intelligence agents. Thursday's New York Times has more. The Washington Post has more on the investigation surrounding the passed documents.

A senior US official has said that new satellite photos of Iran's Parchin military base demonstrate its intention to develop atomic weapons. The US charges come as the Board of Governors of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency is considering a resolution that could impose an October 31 deadline on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program.

Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA board called the US charges "a new lie, like the last 13 lies based on news reports that have been proved to be lies." The Institute for Science and International Security, a US-based think tank, has this analysis of Parchin as a possible nuclear weapons-related site. IRNA, Iran's official news agency, has more on the Iranian reaction to the US allegations. Reuters has more. The IAEA has background on its negotiations with Iran.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• No proof of nuclear weapons in Iran, IAEA head says
• UN nuclear agency considering Iran resolution
• Iran likely to suspend certain nuclear activities prior to UN meeting
• UN says Iran has plans to produce nuclear weapons material

An Indonesia court Thursday sentenced Bambang Harimurti, the editor of leading news magazine Tempo, to one year in prison after finding him guilty on libel charges. Harimurti and two reporters were charged with libel and "inciting unrest" after Tempo published a report alleging that a millionaire businessman with ties to Indonesia's military was behind a fire that destroyed a textile market in Jakarta. The court acquitted the two reporters before finding Harimurti guilty.

Critics have called the case against three journalists an attack on Indonesia's free press and have said that criminal charges should not have been brought against the journalists. BBC provides a profile of the magazine and AP has more. The Jakarta Post has local coverage.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated yesterday in a BBC interview that he believed the Iraq war was illegal under international law. He said that US-led forces should have waited for a second resolution after Iraq failed to comply with a Security Council demand for the admission of weapon's inspectors. The UN must be included in global issues such as the Iraq situation for any level of credibility to attach itself to the cause, stated Annan. Watch video of the interview. BBC has more. Australian Prime Minister John Howard Friday rejected the Secretary-General's claims, declaring that the war in Iraq was 'perfectly valid under international law'. Howard also criticized the UN for being a body paralyzed by political forces. Howard referred to the current humanitarian crisis in the Darfur Region of the Sudan and likened the Security Council's failure to act there to the situation that occurred just prior to the Iraq war. The Australian has more.

In other international law news...

• An Indonsian court has held a Tempo magazine editor guilty of libel against a prominent local businessman. The ruling raises concerns over freedom of the press in Indonesia, since the charges were brought under criminal law as opposed to the country's press law, which governs specific violations of journalistic bodies. BBC has more.
  
  
• Following a ruling from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights earlier this week, an American citizen serving a 50 years to life sentence in Mexico will now appeal to Mexican President Vicente Fox (official site in Spanish). The IACHR ruled that it had no jurisdiction over Alfonso Martin del Campo Dodd, whose 1992 murder conviciton in Mexico occurred before the Mexican government recognized the IACHR in 1998. Martin claims that his conviction rests solely on his confession, which he alleges was obtained through torture by the Mexican police. One of the officers involved in the orignal arrest was later suspended following an admission that he tortured the suspect. The San Luis Obispo has more.

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Thursday, September 16th.

Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor Michigan sponsors a conference on Public Witness/Public Scandal: Faith, Politics, and Life Issues in the Catholic Church, featuring presentations by a number of legal scholars and other experts gathered at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Watch a live webcast here beginning at approximately 9:15 AM (via C-SPAN2).

The US House and Senate are not considering any legislation today and there are no committee meetings scheduled.

Internationally, in Canada, Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Douglas Yard is expected to rule this morning on the constitutionality of that province's definition of marriage, which has been challenged by two same-sex couples. The Winnipeg Sun has more. At the United Nations, Security Council members are scheduled to hold closed-door consultations beginning at 10 AM today on a revised US draft resolution on the Darfur situation. At 11 AM, incoming UN General Assembly President Jean Ping will brief on upcoming Assembly business in the new 59th General Assembly Session, which officially began Wednesday. Watch a live webcast here. Finally, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Union's second Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines continues. Read the conference agenda [PDF] and background [PDF] from the African Union.

In Thursday's US law and business press, the Legal Intelligencer reports on a PA Superior Court ruling that lawyers' billing invoices are not privileged attorney-client communications and must be produced when subpoenaed in a civil contempt hearing.... The Law Technology News reports on how technology aided the prosecution in the Green River Killer case.... The Recorder reports that a US bankruptcy judge has approved almost $450 million in fee requests in Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s bankruptcy matter.... The ABA Journal reports on the value of business training to attorneys.... FindLaw's Writ features CA attorney/author Edward Lazarus's column on the judicial opinion denying a request by "Jane Roe" to reopen Roe v. Wade.

Click for the previous US law and business press review