In Friday's environmental law news, the Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that local health boards cannot ban smoking in bars and restaurants. The Court, in Entertainment Industry Coalition v. Tacoma-Pierce Co. Bd. of Health , held that...

A Bosnian court Friday acquitted eleven Serb policeman who had been linked to the murders of a Catholic priest and his parents during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. Tomislav Matanovic and his parents disappeared in 1995 and their...

The Norwegian government Friday proposed a new copyright law that will make it illegal to copy music from legally purchased CDs onto MP3 players. The proposal, meant to bring Norwegian law in line with EU rules [EU summary of...

Britain's Law Society has written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for an independent probe into the treatment of Svetlana Bakhmina, deputy general counsel of Russian oil company Yukos [corporate website; JURIST Hot Topic news...

French President Jacques Chirac is set to join Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Barcelona Friday at a rally for the "Yes" side in Spain's upcoming referendum on the European Constitution, slated for...

The US Marine Corps said Thursday that 2nd Lt. Ilario G. Pantano has been charged with premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of two Iraqi men during a vehicle search in Iraq on April 15,...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on a request to block the court's May 17, 2004 ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that legalized same-sex marriage [JURIST Hot Topic...

An American Bar Association report has concluded that representation of indigent defendants in the United States is in a "state of crisis." The report illustrates examples of innocent defendants pleading guilty to serious crimes, most often because...

In Friday's international brief, Nigerian President and current African Union Chairman Olusegun Obasanjo expressed outrage Friday after a plane carrying a Nigerian advance party was diverted from the Togo capital city of Lome and denied permission to...

Lawmakers and interest groups reacted swiftly Thursday to US Senate passage of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 , Leading House Republicans hailed the Senate vote and welcomed the...