• Court deals President Bush setback in air conditioner rules
  Reuters reports: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a Bush administration decision to weaken energy-efficiency standards for new air conditioners."
  
  
• Former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor indicted
  AP reports: "A former South Carolina lieutenant governor turned investment executive was indicted Tuesday on 24 counts of securities fraud, the state attorney general said."
  
  
• Court won't suspend Yellowstone snowmobiling decision during appeals
  AP reports: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected requests to suspend a judge's order that curtailed snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park while it considers several appeals of his decision."
  
  
• Judge denies Rep. Janklow's acquittal request
  AP reports: "Rep. Bill Janklow's long-shot request to have his manslaughter conviction thrown out was denied by a judge Tuesday."
  
  
• SEC says mutual funds made improper payments to brokers
  NYTimes.com reports: "Opening a new front in the investigations into the mutual fund industry, federal officials reported today that they had uncovered widespread instances of brokers being illicitly compensated by the funds for promoting them."
  
  
• Man charged with falsely accusing relatives of being terrorists
  AP reports: "A man was charged Tuesday with falsely accusing his relatives of being terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden in a series of anonymous calls to federal agents."

• Milosevic's war crimes trial continues
  AP reports: "Slobodan Milosevic returned to court Tuesday and scoffed at the testimony of a Serbian reporter as U.N. prosecutors entered the final weeks of their attempt to prove the former Yugoslav president committed war crimes."
  
  
• Rumsfeld believes a US military trial of Saddam unlikely
  Reuters reports: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday called a U.S. military trial of Saddam Hussein unlikely but did not rule it out, and said the United States reserved the right to change his prisoner-of-war legal status."
  
  
• Major test for Iran's reformers
  The Christian Science Monitor reports: "Sweeping moves by Iranian hard- liners to disqualify reform opponents before next month's key elections are sparking a political crisis that could lead to the resignation of President Mohamad Khatami's government."
  
  
• Israeli Prime Minister faces opposition on boundary plan
  AP reports: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced stiff opposition as he promised to seek parliamentary approval and consult with the United States before imposing what he calls a temporary boundary on the Palestinians."

[T]he detention of close relatives for the purpose of prompting the surrender of a wanted person appears to be in violation of the strict international humanitarian law prohibition against hostage-taking. Under the laws of war, a hostage is a person taken into custody for the purpose of compelling some course of action by the opposing side. Taking hostages is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions – in other words, a war crime.

AP

• Supreme Court Upholds Police Roadblocks
  AP reports: "The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police may set up roadblocks to collect tips about crimes, rejecting concerns that authorities might use the checkpoints to fish for unrelated suspicious activity."
  
  
• High court hears disabled rights case
  AP reports: "Disabled people should not have to ask police to carry them up the stairs of a public courthouse when there is no other way to get there, a lawyer for a disabled man argued at the Supreme Court on Tuesday."
  
  
• SEC finds mutual fund brokerage abuses
  The Financial Times reports: "The US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday it had found mutual fund share sale abuses at 13 of 15 Wall Street brokerages targeted in an investigation that began in April last year."
  
  
• O'Neill Defends Document Disclosure
  The Washington Post reports: "Former Treasury secretary Paul H. O'Neill said today that the documents he turned over to an author, which are now the subject of a Treasury Department inquiry, were sent to him on a compact disc by the department's own general counsel after O'Neill left the administration last year."
  
  
• Prominent Ohio Islamic Leader Indicted
  AP reports: "A prominent Islamic clergyman was arrested Tuesday on an indictment alleging he concealed links to groups that committed terrorist attacks against Jews when he applied for U.S. citizenship a decade ago, officials said."

• Group Accuses U.S. of War Crimes in Iraq
  AP reports: "A top human rights group Tuesday accused the U.S. military of committing war crimes by demolishing homes of suspected insurgents and arresting the relatives of Iraqi fugitives."
  
  
• Brussels launches legal action in EU budget row
  AFP reports: "The European Commission agreed to take legal action over an EU decision to suspend budget rules underpinning the euro, calling for a fast-track court procedure to rule on the fiercely-divisive case."

• Military Lawyers Question Tribunal Rules
  The Washington Post reports: "Five military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay are planning to tell the U.S. Supreme Court that some of the rules drawn up for special military trials are unconstitutional."
  
  
• GOP Urges Wider Ban on 'Soft Money'
  The Washington Post reports: "The Republican National Committee plans to ask the Federal Election Commission today to ban the raising of $300 million or more in "soft money" by pro-Democratic groups seeking to pay for voter mobilization and TV ads in this year's elections."
  
  
• N.J. Grants Benefits to Same-Sex Partners
  AP reports: "Same-sex partners in New Jersey have been granted unprecedented legal, health care and financial rights under a new bill, though the measure stops short of authorizing gay marriage."
  
  
• In-House Audit Says Wal-Mart Violated Labor Laws
  The New York Times reports: "An internal audit now under court seal warned top executives at Wal-Mart Stores three years ago that employee records at 128 stores pointed to extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals."
  
  
• Georgia commission finds County Club discriminated against same-sex couple
  AP reports: "Atlanta's Human Relations Commission determined that a country club violated a city ordinance by denying same-sex couples the perks given to other families."

• Court rejects Berlusconi immunity law
  Reuters reports: "Italy's Constitutional Court has ruled that a law which gives legal immunity to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is illegitimate and has to be revoked, judicial sources say."
  
  
• NATO troops launch another bid to nab Karadzic
  AFP reports: "NATO troops, wearing masks and using sniffer dogs, raided the wartime residence of top war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic in another bid to capture the former Bosnian Serb president, witnesses, NATO and local officials revealed."
  
  
• Iran Leader Delays Ruling on Exclusion of Reformists
  The New York Times reports: "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, said Monday that he would not intervene for the moment in the gathering confrontation between the two main political camps in Iran — the hard-liners and the reformists — after a review panel that he controls barred hundreds of reformist candidates from running in parliamentary elections next month."
  
  
• Court confirms acquittal of Indonesian policeman
  The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports: "Indonesia's highest court has confirmed the acquittal of a senior policeman accused of human rights abuses in the last days of Indonesian rule over East Timor."
  
  
• Italy Indicts Alleged Ex-Nazis on Village Massacre Charges
  The UK Press Association Reports: "An Italian court today indicted three alleged former members of the Nazi SS on charges of having carried out a 1944 massacre of 560 people in the Italian village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema."
  
  
• Lawmakers to discuss uneasy relationship with High Court
  Haaretz reports: "The President of the High Court of Justice, Aharon Barak, criticized Knesset members on Tuesday, saying that some of their legislation was designed to increase their own political power. The comments come as the Knesset was due to sit in special session Tuesday, to discuss recent rulings by the High Court of Justice - legislators are expected to be harshly critical of the court."
  
  
• U.K. Serial Killer Shipman, Murderer of 215 Patients, Is Dead
  Bloomberg reports: "Harold Frederick Shipman, a doctor who killed at least 215 of his patients over 23 years, was found dead early today in prison, according to the Home Office in London."