A BID to extradite two people to the United States over an alleged international operation to produce an illegal drug got under way yesterday.

Brian Howes, 43, and Kerry Ann Shanks, 29, are wanted by the American authorities to face 82 charges over the alleged supply of chemicals to people believed to be involved in the production of methamphetamine, better known as crystal meth.

An initial extradition hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard claims that chemicals allegedly supplied by the pair, of Bo'ness, were traced to more than 80 unlawful laboratories in the US.

Sheriff Isabella McColl remanded them in custody until a further hearing in March.

An appeals court reinstated a charge of conspiracy to "murder, kidnap, and maim" against accused terrorist supporter Jose Padilla, the most serious count that he will face at a trial scheduled to begin in April.

The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta yesterday reversed a lower court ruling that threw out the charge, which carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami had dismissed the count, ruling it duplicated other charges.

Mr. Padilla, 36, a former Chicago gang member and alleged Al Qaeda operative, is charged with being part of a terror cell that provided money, aid, and recruits to Islamic extremists. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His case is set for trial April 16 in Miami federal court.

"We are gratified by the 11th Circuit's swift decision and look forward to presenting the evidence at trial," said Alex Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, in a statement.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals heard arguments January 10 over Judge Cooke's decision that the charges violated Mr. Padilla's right against being charged twice for the same offense. Federal prosecutors argued the charge was dropped in error, saying Judge Cooke used flawed legal analysis. Mr. Padilla has 21 days to seek a rehearing before the appeals court, according to the Justice Department.

An America citizen, Mr. Padilla was arrested in Chicago in 2002. The government initially accused him of plotting to detonate in America a "dirty bomb," a conventional explosive device that includes radioactive material for dispersal in the blast. America later said Al Qaeda trained him to blow up American apartment buildings. In November 2005, Mr. Padilla was indicted on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Prison officials are scheduled to report by February 9 on a mental competency exam of Mr. Padilla to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.

Mr. Padilla's lawyers said in court papers that he suffered mental damage because of abuse that they claim was inflicted by American authorities during the three years and five months he was held in a Navy prison in South Carolina.

NEW YORK- Further demonstrating its commitment to addressing the legal profession’s top challenges, CT, part of Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services, today announces several new enhancements to its Litigation Solutions offerings. And, as an indication of others’ confidence in CT’s products, the company’s solutions have been named as a finalist for five Law Technology News^® Awards.

The Fourth Annual Law Technology News Awards recognize leaders in the field—both in innovation and implementation. CT is nominated in the following five categories: Records Management Software, CT’s hCue; EDD System, CT Summation CaseVault; Knowledge Management System, CTAdvantage.com; Litigation Support Service/Consultant, CT Summation Professional Services; and Litigation Support Software, CT Summation. The winners, as selected by Law Technology News readers, will be announced on January 29, 2007 at the Law Technology News Awards Dinner.

“We are delighted to be nominated in multiple categories this year. We strive to provide the best solutions for our customers, and it’s always nice to have that validated by some of the very people we aim to please,” said Gene Landoe, president and CEO of CT and Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services. “Building upon these nominations, we continue to expand our solutions and are eager to share some new offerings with the LegalTech NY audience. In particular, we are excited about the rapid growth in hosting and eDiscovery, which our CaseVault solution successfully addresses. We are looking forward to even greater growth in 2007 with the addition of a full range of eDiscovery services to complement the CaseVault product, which we believe will cement CT Summation's position as a leader in litigation support software and services.”

CT continues to improve upon its award-winning—and award-nominated—solutions by announcing a new client communications extranet portal, 360° Connections, from CT TyMetrix; the latest version of CT TyMetrix 360°, version 6.12; the release of CT Summation CaseVault 5.0; and the expansion of its CT Summation Enterprise platform support to include Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

“Legal professionals have a lot of challenges facing them each day, such as new rules and regulations and increased work loads—and many different technologies from which to chose that can potentially help,” said Tom Rump, vice president of Litigation Solutions for Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services. “The right mix of technology and in-house expertise can make all the difference when selecting the best tools and services. We strive to find a balance of both worlds to offer our customers solutions that work for them. These latest enhancements are yet another example of our commitment to growing our Litigation Solutions offerings in 2007.”

CT is announcing the following new offerings and enhancements at LegalTech New York:

• CT TyMetrix “360° Connections”: To better serve clients and respond quickly to the management technology needs of a sophisticated market, 360° Connections is a new client extranet from CT TyMetrix. Using a Web browser, clients can securely access information specific to their engagement and find out the latest news about CT TyMetrix developments. And, to elicit feedback from its most important audience, the extranet includes space for clients to post suggestions for enhancements to CT TyMetrix products.
• CT TyMetrix 360° Version 6.12: This new release includes collaborative budgeting with budgeting approval workflows, support for VAT management through tax handling rules, initial support for the LEDES XML 2.0 and additional offerings in the CT TyMetrix 360° reporting suite.
• CT TyMetrix University: To ensure rapid system adoption for new users and expanded platform utilization for experienced users, CT TyMetrix announces CT TyMetrix University. This newly formed group includes a dedicated team of professionals with legal/claims industry experience and training expertise. The 2007 schedule includes a wide array of regular training sessions for all end-users, including clients and their law firms. Participants can take advantage of the CT TyMetrix University via the Web, at client sites and at the CT TyMetrix headquarters in Hartford, Conn.
• CT Summation CaseVault Version 5.0: This major new release delivers ESI workflow to the latest ASP.NET environment. Version 5.0 is the latest advancement in CT Summation's effort to reduce "attorney glass time”—the time attorney's are required to spend using software to search, navigate and categorize evidence. This enables them to spend more time on valuable tasks such as evidence analysis. Also, an intuitive interface and easy to navigate features will enable additional time and cost savings for corporations and law firms.
• CT Summation Enterprise Microsoft SQL 2005 Support: As part of its initiatives to continually upgrade and innovate CT Summation products, CT Summation is expanding its Enterprise platform support to include Microsoft SQL 2005, Vista IE7 and Office 7. Users can take advantage of the platform’s capacity, speed, performance and security enhancements. In addition, law firms who have already adopted Microsoft SQL 2005 can now implement or upgrade existing CT Summation systems. Microsoft SQL 2005 support will be available in early March 2007.

In addition to these enhancements, CT is showcasing its CT Summation LG/iBlaze Version 2.8 with enhanced tagging and foldering to support ESI Review, CT EDGAR Solutions and CT TyMetrix 360° at LegalTech New York from Jan. 29-31, 2007.

About Law Technology News

Law Technology News^® provides timely information and insight into the latest technologies, products and services available for the legal marketplace. Each month, the award-winning magazine features new product announcements, as well as monthly articles and columns written by industry experts and senior law firm decision makers. LTN is distributed to more than 40,000 selected subscribers and is also available on the Web at www.lawtechnologynews.com. The magazine is published by ALM.

About CT

CT, a Wolters Kluwer business, provides intelligent software and service solutions that empower legal professionals to more effectively manage dynamic information, speed workflows and make critical decisions. CT is the market leader for corporate compliance and governance services and solutions, including solutions for managing statutory representation, corporate transactions, and jurisdictional and securities compliance; UCC products and services for corporate due diligence, secured lending, bankruptcy, and real estate, among other areas; matter management and e-billing applications, litigation support software, and eDiscovery services; and innovative trademark research offerings. CT is based in New York City. For more information, please visit www.ctlegalsolutions.com.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal and regulatory, and education sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2005) of €3.4 billion, employs approximately 18,400 people worldwide and maintains operations across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com.

JOPLIN, Mo. - A seventh grader who opened fire at a middle school will be one of the youngest suspects ever tried as an adult in Missouri, resulting in a legal response that straddles two courts.

Thomas White is accused of taking an assault rifle to Joplin Memorial Middle School on Oct. 9 and pointing it at administrators, teachers and students before firing a shot into the ceiling.

He then allegedly repeatedly tried to shoot Principal Stephen Gilbreth as Gilbreth ushered him out of the school. Police said the rifle jammed because of the improper setting of an ammunition clip in the gun. No one was wounded.

White dressed in a trench coat, camouflage pants and a crudely fashioned mask the day of the incident. He allegedly had a pellet gun, a Marine Corps manual and a map of a Kansas park campground in his backpack, authorities have said.

At White's certification hearing in December, juvenile officer April Foulkes recommended he be tried as an adult because of the seriousness of his alleged offense and the threat it posed to the community.

White, now 14, is charged with first-degree assault, armed-criminal action and attempted escape. He is being held at the Jasper County Jail, awaiting a preliminary hearing. His bond is set at $250,000.

He is one of the youngest offenders ever to be certified as an adult in the state. Three St. Louis girls, two age 14 and one 13, were tried as adults in a 2004-2005 murder case.

Missouri enacted a new juvenile crime law in 1995. The state based its policies on a philosophy that young offenders were not fully developed criminals and could be changed, said Tom Breedlove, the Division of Youth Services deputy director.

Before 1995, an offender had to be 14 or older to be certified for trial as an adult. Like many other states, Missouri lowered the age to 12 for any felony and eliminated a minimum age for the most serious violent crimes.

Judges now must hold adult-certification hearings for any juvenile accused of murder, rape, sodomy, first-degree assault, first-degree robbery or drug trafficking, and for any young offender with two prior felonies. The judge is allowed to decide whether the case should remain in juvenile court.

In White's case, if he is convicted, he faces an approach to juvenile crime known as blended sentencing and a state program involving dual courts' jurisdiction.

Foulkes said if White were to be adjudicated as a juvenile, the court's options would be limited to placing him on probation or committing him to DYS.

Brent Buerck, senior program administrator with DYS, said young offenders sentenced under the dual-jurisdiction program can actually be kept up to the age of 21. The program first began in 1996 and saw its first releases in 1999.

"With the dual jurisdictions, 83 percent of the kids who have successfully completed the program are not in prison," Buerck said.

The Netherlands Justice Ministry has extradited Dutch citizen Wasem al Delaema to the US for his role in attempted killings of US soldiers in Iraq during October 2003, according to the Ministry on Saturday. The extradition follows a ruling by the Appeals Court in The Hague that al Delaema could be extradited for the terror attacks, saying the Court expected the US to observe the prisoner's rights. The US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) asserts that al Delaema will face trial in federal district court rather than a military commission and that he potentially may serve any sentence in the Netherlands, which could be a maximum of life imprisonment. Al Delaema's trial will be the first for a person accused of terrorist activities in Iraq during the war in that country.

Dutch authorities captured al Delaema in the Netherlands in May 2005. The DOJ charged al Delaema in July 2005 after he was seen on a videotape obtained by Dutch prosecutors showing the insurgency group Fighters of Fallujah how to set landmines near US military routes; however, al Delaema claims he was forced to appear on the videotape after being beaten. Al Delaema was indicted in September 2005 on four conspiracy charges in addition to several charges related to possession and training in the use of explosives.

The decision late Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that it was improper for the EPA to let power plants circumvent environmental laws - for instance, restocking polluted water with new fish instead of paying to upgrade their technology.

It said the EPA's decisions must "be driven by technology, not cost," unless two technologies produce essentially the same benefits but have much different costs.

"EPA's goal is to protect fish and the ecosystem while meeting the nation's need for reliable energy sources," said Benjamin H. Grumbles, the agency's assistant administrator for water. The agency was reviewing the decision, he said.

The ruling drew praise from environmental groups and six states that had sued.