The Portuguese government officially published a new abortion law Thursday, formally adopting the law and paving the way for it to enter effect on July 15. The law allows abortions during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy free of charge at a public hospital, but requires a meeting with a doctor who will be required [...]

The White House is considering the closure of detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and the transfer of the estimated 385 detainees currently held there to other military detention facilities, AP reported Thursday. Three senior Bush administration officials told AP they believe a consensus has been building within the executive branch, saying that the proposal has [...]

JURIST Guest Columnists Victor Hansen and Lawrence Friedman of New England School of Law say that revelations by now-retired Major General Antonio Taguba in a recent New Yorker interview raise some very troubling issues suggesting that the US military and civilian leaderships have learned nothing from the Abu Ghraib scandal…. In a recent interview in [...]

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court began judicial proceedings against former Pharmaceutical Registration Department director Cao Wenzhuan Thursday as a part of China's crackdown on corruption at the State Food and Drug Administration , where high-ranking officials allegedly received bribes in exchange for the certification of substandard drugs. Cao alleged received $307,000 in bribes [...]

Eric Linge, Pitt Law '09, files from Mumbai: If you've seen Mission Impossible 2 you remember Tom Cruise hanging from the cliff by one arm. Chances are you've never seen the Telugu-language version of the same film, where a fat, middle-age hero, Balayya, finds himself in the same predicament. Climbing the sheer mountain was going [...]

Ali Khan : "Pakistan's Supreme Court is most likely to declare that the Executive order to suspend Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry violates Articles 175(3) and 209(5) of the Constitution. If the Chief Justice is reinstated, the question remains whether President Musharraf will obey the Supreme Court. If Musharraf opts to follow the footsteps of the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that Russian authorities were responsible for the deaths of four members of a Chechen family. The court ordered Russia to pay $114,000 to the family of Zura Sharaniyevna Bitiyeva, who was a political figurehead and anti-war campaigner in Chechnya. She, her husband, one of their sons, [...]

The US House of Representatives Thursday passed a measure by 223-201 that would reverse a ban on contraceptive aid to overseas agencies that offer abortions. The measure, introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) , is attached to bill HR 2764 , appropriating $34.2 billion for the Department of the State and for foreign aid inr [...]

The Iraq Central Criminal Court handed down 16 death sentences Thursday, the latest such sentences in a country with the fourth highest execution rate in the world . Two of those sentenced were non-Iraqi Arabs arrested earlier this year for entering the country illegally and for engaging in terrorist activities. Nine Iraqis were sentenced for [...]

Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday at a closed-door hearing held by the US House Intelligence Committee that there had been divisions between members of the Bush administration as to whether the president's warrantless wiretapping program was legal. The House Intelligence Committee and its Senate counterpart are reviewing the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance [...]