Lawyers representing approximately three million Vietnamese plaintiffs appealed the dismissal of their civil lawsuit to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Monday. The plaintiffs argued that more than 30 American chemical companies should be held liable for billions of dollars in compensatory damages and environmental cleanup costs for producing and supplying defoliants [...]
The UK government is planning to proceed with proposals designed to increase rape convictions despite objections from the Council of Circuit Judges (COCJ) , the Guardian reported Monday. Solicitor General Mike O'Brien said that the reforms, including a proposal to allow expert testimony to dispel rape myths and the automatic introduction of videotaped interviews with [...]
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Larry Johnson called for greater acceptance of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism Monday, noting an "urgent need to enhance international cooperation" to both prevent terrorism and punish terrorists. Johnson was moderating a panel discussion between experts on the topic of nuclear terrorism at [...]
The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee said Monday that e-mail records for 51 of 88 White House officials being investigated for potential Presidential Records Act (PRA) violations were missing , finding that there have been "extensive destruction" of e-mail records of officials who used accounts issued by the Republican National Committee (RNC). The Oversight [...]
President Bush's use of bill signing statements has led to several instances where provisions of laws have been ignored in favor of the Bush administration's interpretation, according to a report released Monday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) . At the request of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and House Judiciary [...]
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that there were four elements he would not accept in any EU treaty. In remarks made to the House of Commons Liaison Committee , Blair acknowledged that it was an important that the EU "work more effectively" as an organization, but said that it doesn't need a real [...]
Senior UN officials from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Monday urged countries to cooperate in the capture of numerous fugitives who remain at large. Carla Del Ponte, top prosecutor for the ICTY, said that many senior leaders responsible for the most serious crimes [...]
The UN Security Council said Monday it has approved a request by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to aid his country in the investigation of the murder of anti-Syrian legislator Walid Eido last week. Eido, who was a member of the Lebanese Parliament, was killed last Wednesday when his car exploded at a beach in [...]
Former Enron broadband division chief Kenneth Rice was sentenced to 27 months in prison Monday and ordered to forfeit almost $15 million as part of a plea deal with prosecutors for his testimony against former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and company founder Kenneth Lay . As CEO of Enron Broadband Services (EBS) , Rice made [...]
EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini Monday said that many EU member states have failed to implement EU legislation to combat corruption by making bribery through an intermediary a criminal offense and updating existing anti-corruption legislation to include non-profit organizations. The EU approved the framework decision on combating corruption in the private [...]
