US District Judge Thomas F. Hogan seemed skeptical of giving Rumsfeld immunity from the allegations, but also acknowledged that allowing the civil lawsuit to proceed would be unprecedented. He promised to rule quickly in the case. Rumsfeld resigned  from his position last month pending the confirmation of his successor. His resignation was quickly followed by the filing of a war crimes complaint against him under Germany's universal jurisdiction laws.

Since September, HP has been embroiled in an elaborate corporate spying scandal. In order to discover the source of boardroom leaks, the company allegedly hired outside detectives to call phone companies, posing as executives and reporters in attempt to obtain phone records. In November, former chairwoman Patricia Dunn, former ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker, and outside private investigators Ronald DeLia, Matthew DePante and Bryan Wagner pleaded not guilty in Santa Clara County Superior Court to felony charges stemming from their roles in the corporate spying scandal. Dunn resigned in September before testifying at a hearing before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, during which she admitted that she was aware of the plan, but was also told the actions were legal by corporate attorneys.

China leads the world with 31 imprisoned journalists, 19 of which are held in relation to information they published on the Internet. Behind China, Cuba and Eritrea round out the top three states with most imprisoned journalists. The US currently has three journalists imprisoned including AP photographer Bilal Hussein and Aljazerra cameraman Sami al-Haj. According to CPJ statistics, the first journalist imprisoned for publishing on the Internet was jailed in 1997.

The new center-left government of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised before taking office last May to consider recognizing civil unions. The government's position has already prompted condemnation from the Vatican, with Pope Benedict denouncing any legal recognition of same-sex couples.

Washington -- The chance that the gem on your finger is an illicit or "blood diamond" has been greatly diminished, thanks to an innovative international partnership called the "Kimberley Process" that controls and monitors the world's $30 billion annual trade in rough stones.

The multination process, with roots in a meeting held in Kimberley, South Africa, in 2000, was launched formally in November 2002.  It has "fundamentally reformed the rules of the game of the trade in rough diamonds … and is a success story for multilateral diplomacy," says Paul Simons, a deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.

Simons updated journalists December 5 on progress made by the 71 Kimberley Process signatories in curtailing the illicit cross-border trade in diamonds that has helped fuel conflict, especially in West Africa in the 1990s. The United Nations defines blood diamonds, also called conflict diamonds, as diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments and used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council.

Simons, who attended a Kimberley Process plenary meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, November 6-9, said the Kimberley Process "creates an exclusive trading zone of committed countries.  All the world's major diamond producers, polishers and consumers are part of the process” and have agreed to trade only with other members.

He said a major reason for the success of the "certification scheme" is the partnership between government, the diamond industry and prominent civil society groups.

U.S. government support for the Kimberley Process broadened when Congress passed the Clean Diamond Trade Act in April 2003.  The United States provides technical help to upgrade internal controls on the diamond sectors in countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia and has spent $7.6 million since 1999 on diamond trade control assistance, Simons added.

Money from the sale of blood diamonds helped fuel Sierra Leone’s civil war, which killed or maimed thousands. That conflict is the subject of a new film, Blood Diamond, that debuts on international screens in early 2007.

After seeing an advance screening of the film, Simons said, "It is very good, but it depicts a picture that occurred in the late 1990s."

During that "peak period," blood diamonds were estimated to account for 4-15 percent of the world's total trade in the gemstone, he added.  But now the rate has dropped to less than 1 percent, thanks to the certification and sanctions regime the Kimberley Process implemented early in 2003.

In many ways Kimberley is unique because "it contains a disciplinary component to take action if there are any irregularities," Simons pointed out.  This is done through "warnings or expulsion processes."

For example, he said, the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville was expelled from the process in 2004 because it was exporting more diamonds than it produced.  In contrast, policing of the industry has been good for formerly war-torn Sierra Leone, whose official diamond exports went from virtually zero to $140 million in 2005.

Kimberley also has "a clearly robust tool kit that includes mechanisms to monitor country performance ... [and] provisions to report diamond trade and production statistics -- we have a statistics working group that compiles and monitors these," Simons added.

According to a communiqué from the November Gaborone meeting, the statistics working group in 2006 monitored $37.6 billion in rough diamond exports, and participating nations issued 59,000 certificates verifying their authenticity.

In late November, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution reaffirming its continuing support for the Kimberley Process.

Barbara Barrett, a member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. and senior adviser on diamonds and conflict issues, said in a statement: "We join those in the international community who commend the Kimberley Process for dramatically reducing the flow of conflict diamonds and thus contributing to regional security, peace and stability."

Despite Kimberley’s successes, challenges remain, Simon told journalists.  Liberia is still unable to export diamonds because of U.N. sanctions -- a legacy of the Charles Taylor dictatorship.

And diamonds from rebel-held regions in Cote d'Ivoire allegedly enter international markets through Mali and Ghana.  The Gaborone meeting communiqué said Ghanaian officials are “committed to take appropriate measures to maintain the integrity” of the process."

But the main point, Simons said, is that the Kimberley Process overall is "a success story.  We're keeping a vigilant eye around the world" and continue to upgrade capabilities of countries that could be vulnerable to the illicit trade in diamonds.

More information is available on the Kimberley Process Web site.

Washington – "In order to fight corruption you have to deny safe haven for the corrupt," according to John Brandolino, director for anticrime programs for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) provisions on asset recovery help do that, he said.

"No other convention deals with the asset recovery issue in such a comprehensive way," Brandolino said in an interview with USINFO December 4. The convention’s provisions on asset recovery promote international cooperation in training and confiscating illicitly acquired funds and return them to their country of origin.

For the asset recovery efforts to be effective, there must be full participation of the international community, Brandolino said, so that corrupt entities cannot take their funds from one nation to another.

Brandolino made his remarks ahead of the first high-level conference since the convention came into force on December 14, 2005. Representatives of the countries that have ratified the U.N. Convention Against Corruption will meet in Dead Sea, Jordan, December 10 -14, to work on turning the international anti-corruption convention’s words into actions. The goal of the conference is to get parties together to develop a process for promoting implementation of the convention, Brandolino said.

The convention, the first international legally binding anti-corruption agreement, outlines actions governments are required to take to reduce corruption. It has been signed by 140 nations and ratified by 80.

According to a November 29 U.N. press release, asset recovery is one of three key issues at the Jordan conference. The 800 delegates also will focus on monitoring nations' compliance with the convention and providing technical assistance to ensure that police, prosecutors and judges are equipped with the tools needed to prevent and punish corruption.

International cooperation is a key element of the convention. It establishes guidelines for improving mutual law enforcement, investigations and extraditions.

UNITED STATES ACTIVE IN FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

The United States became a party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on November 29. The U.S. ratification sends a strong message to the world that the United States views the convention as an important focal point for anti-corruption efforts, Brandolino said.

The United States goal at the Jordan conference, Brandolino said, is to work with the parties to make sure the convention is implemented effectively. The U.S. delegation to the conference includes representatives from the State Department, Justice Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The United States already has been working actively with the United Nations and independently to fight corruption worldwide. It has given money to help countries fight corruption as part of the U.N. Global Program Against Corruption. U.S. assistance also has helped other nations learn how to institute the proper laws, financial management systems and public procurement systems to prevent corruption.

The full text of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption is available on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Web site.

More information about the convention will be available in a December 12 webchat at USINFO’s Webchat Station.