Florida circuit judge Judge George Greer Friday denied a request from the St. Petersburg Times for the release of investigative summaries regarding alleged mistreatement of Terri Schiavo . The dozens of files in question are held by Florida's Department of Children & Families , which initiated investigations of possible abuse after medical scans on Terri [...]

US Department of Defense spokesmen have said that US forces in Iraq are holding a man with joint US and Jordanian citizenship who is said to be a senior operative for terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi. The unidentified suspect, who is the first American known to be captured fighting for the Iraq insurgency, is said [...]

Lawmakers in Rhode Island have said that they will consider amending the statewide smoking ban that took effect last month in light of a Newport Superior Court judge's Thursday ruling that certain exemptions in the law were irrational, and therefore unconstitutional. The Public Health and Workplace Safety Act includes temporary exemptions for certain establishments, including [...]

New Jersey Democratic Senator Frank R. Lautenberg took House Republican leader Tom DeLay to task Friday for making anti-judicial remarks in the aftermath of Terri Schiavo's death that appeared to threaten some kind of recrimination. Clearly angered by the event and by the inaction of what he called in a news conference "an arrogant, out [...]

In Friday's international brief, reports filtering out of Zimbabwe following Thursday's national elections indicate that the vote is being heavily criticized. Foreign media have been continually denied access to the country, and domestic media are required to operate under tight governmental control. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai , president of the Movement for Democratic Change , [...]

Nepalese King Gyanendra Friday lifted the house arrest of Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala and freed nearly 257 other people detained after he declared a state of emergency in February . Three weeks ago King Gyanendra lifted similar house arrest restrictions placed on former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba . Since disbanding the country's government, [...]

SB 25, Massachusetts House of Representatives, passed March 31, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

TSpain's Interior Ministry announced Friday that 12 more people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the preparations of the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded over 1500 others. Four of the suspects are Moroccan nationals, and brothers of the al-Qaida figure who claimed responsibility for the attacks, [...]

Sudan Friday announced its displeasure with UN Security Council Resolution 1593 adopted late Thursday evening that authorized the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute war crimes violations in Sudan. Sudan Foreign Affairs Minister Najeeb al-Kheir Abdul Wahab called the resolution "unfair, ill-advised and narrow-minded" and said it would frustrate Sudan's attempt to provide reconciliatory [...]

A US military court in Germany Friday sentenced US Army Captain Rogelio "Roger" Maynulet to be discharged from the Army after he was found guilty Thursday of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter. He will not serve any jail time. Maynulet had been charged in connection with the shooting of a Iraqi truck driver [...]