The Italian Senate Wednesday approved a broad constitutional reform bill that will increase the prime minister's executive authority, minimize the risk that governments will collapse mid-term, redistribute power between the houses of parliament, and increase the self-rule of Italy's 20 regions. The changes to the Italian constitution must be approved by popular referendum, which will [...]

UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw has announced reforms to the way Britain uses its secret intelligence. Straw announced the reforms Wednesday as part of a written statement to Parliament on the government's implementation of the recommendations in the Butler report , which concluded that there were "serious flaws" in [...]

The Florida Senate has begun debate on Terri Schiavo legislation. An amended version of SB 804 would prohibit suspension of sustenance or hydration of a person in persistent vegatative state when family members disagree on the course of action based on alleged prior oral statements of the person and where that person left no prior [...]

President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, and Mexican President Vicente Fox Wednesday unveiled the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America , a pact which seeks to broaden cooperation on security and economic issues. Included among the goals of the pact's security agenda is the development and implementation of a "comprehensive North American strategy [...]

US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. has extended a temporary restraining order barring the US from transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the custody of foreign countries. Judge Kennedy extended the restraining order for another 10 days Tuesday, saying he needs additional time to decide whether the court has authority over the decision to release [...]

The European Commission said Wednesday that it has rejected part of Microsoft's plan to comply with sanctions that were imposed last year after the Commission found that Microsoft violated European antitrust laws . In addition to imposing a record $654 million fine, the Commission also ordered Microsoft to choose a non-partisan individual to monitor the [...]

AP is reporting that the parents of Terri Schiavo have opted to seek an expedited rehearing of their case by the full US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals en banc instead of pursuing an immediate appeal to the US Supreme Court, the course that their lawyer had appeared to indicate earlier Wednesday. The move could [...]

Leading Wednesday's corporations and securities law news, a US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court's ruling which froze $37.6 million in termination pay and bonuses to two Gemstar TV Guide International officials. The SEC had settled with the two executives, former CEO Henry Yuen and former CFO Elsie Leung over [...]

The parents of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo prepared a last-ditch appeal to the United States Supreme Court Wednesday after the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the early hours of the morning refused to authorize a re-insertion of Schiavo's feeding tube , removed 5 days ago. The high court has declined to act [...]

A federal appeals court has ruled that a controversial law requiring prisoners, parolees, and others on probation to submit DNA samples to an FBI DNA identification database in constitutional. Judge Jane R. Roth, for the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote Monday that although such an intrusion into the lives of ordinary citizens would [...]