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 [...]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dropped a scheduled review of its media ownership rules from the agenda of its scheduled monthly open meeting Thursday. Some of the restrictive rules had been overturned by the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, a decision that the US Supreme Court recently let stand without comment , [...]

US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has been released from hospital after a two-night stay. He had been "admitted for observation and tests" Wednesday with a high fever, fueling debate over the prospect of his retirement. AP has more.

A federal jury in Vermont Thursday recommended the death penalty for Donald Fell, convicted in June of kidnapping and murdering a supermarket worker in 2000. Vermont hasn't executed a convict since 1954, and the last death sentence given in 1957 was later commuted. The state formally abolished the death penalty in 1987. The federal government [...]

New York Gov. George Pataki Wednesday signed a bill allowing the direct shipment of wines into and out of New York, ending limitations that have hampered wine sales since the repeal of Prohibition more than 70 years ago and allowing New York wine enthusiasts to receive wine by mail from wineries all over the US. [...]