Investigations into FBI Allegations of Detainee Abuse, US Department of Defense , released July 14, 2005 . Read the full text of the report here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Senators said Thursday at a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing that Congress should enact legislation to define the legal status of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, while the Pentagon called such a plan too restrictive since present laws enable the US to detain the prisoners for an unlimited period of time. Republican Senators [...]

Four leading women in the US Senate Thursday asked Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to reconsider her resignation if Justice William Rehnquist makes the decision to retire. The request from Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) came after Justice Rehnquist was admitted to the hospital for [...]

The Ethiopian government has said that it will not renew a ban on post-election demonstrations against accusations of election fraud after it expires Friday. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi originally instituted a month-long ban against protests in and near the country's capital beginning on the May 15 election day, but it was extended after demonstrations [...]

The NHL and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) have come to an agreement in principle , ending the longest labor interruption in North American professional sports history. The two groups wrapped up a nine-day collective bargaining session with the agreement, which must still be ratified by the NHL and the players' association. Throughout [...]

Leading Thursday's states brief, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today that the state's cap on medical malpractice noneconomic damage awards is unconstitutional because it violates the equal protection guarantees of the state constitution and the legislature's rationale for implementing the cap was too broad and speculative to accept. Noneconomic damages include compensation for mental distress, [...]

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Thursday condemned the 2001 Miami federal court conviction of five Cubans who spied on US anti-Castro groups , calling their long jail terms – including three life sentences – "arbitrary." In an opinion obtained by Reuters on Thursday, the independent five-person panel of lawyers said that the trial [...]

The Slovak Constitutional Court Thursday delayed Slovakia's ratification of the European Constitution , approved in the country's parliament two months ago. Thirteen Slovak citizens filed a complaint with the court, arguing that the Constitution should be put to a vote in a public referendum, effectively invalidating the parliament's ratification. The court issued an additional injunction [...]

The first trial against pharmaceutical drug company Merck & Co. for distributing the drug Vioxx while aware of an increased chance of heart attack and stroke began Thursday in Texas with opening statements from both sides. The state trial, the first of some 3,800 lawsuits to go to court, involves widow Carol Ernst, who claims [...]

Leading Thursday's international brief, Pakistan's North West Frontier Province has passed a controversial law reminiscent of Afghan regulatons under the former Taliban regime that will allow the government to monitor individuals' compliance with Islamic principles. The bill creates the office of "mohtasib," which will be filled by an Islamic cleric responsible for ensuring that Islamic [...]