Kansas v. Marsh, Supreme Court of Kansas, December 17, 2004 . Read the full text of the opinion here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Jamal al-Harith, one of four UK citizens released from detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in March, told a Council of Europe investigating panel Friday that he was kept chained in painful positions, fed rotten food, repeatedly beaten, and subjected to psychological torture. The Council is working on a report on allegations of abuse and torture [...]

The government of China (official website in Chinese) announced Friday that it will submit an anti-secession bill to the Chinese parliament later in Decemeber. The text and details of the legislation have not been made public, but the announcement appeared to be aimed at the recent moves towards independence by Taiwan that have worried the [...]

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in talks Friday with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun that economic sanctions were a possibility against North Korea in the wake of growing Japanese public hostility towards Pyongyang for kidnapping of Japanese citizens in previous decades for use in training programs for its intelligence operatives. Tensions between the [...]

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic tendered his resignation Friday, a day after fresh international sanctions were imposed against Serb police and officials for alleged protection of war crimes fugitives. Mikerevic said his resignation was for the good of Republika Srpska, the Serb-run part of Bosnia created at the end of the former Yugoslav republic's [...]

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 vote Friday that the state's 1994 death penalty law is unconstitutional. The court's ruling focused on a provision stating that when juries weigh aggravating and mitigating factors in determining a sentence, a tie goes to the state. The decision does not indict the death penalty itself, but [...]

Updating a story published yesterday in JURIST's Paper Chase, new proposed Russian anti-terror legislation that would allow 60-day security clampdowns and that has critics fearing for civil rights easily passed its first reading Friday in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliment. The bill would allow Russian authorities the right to impose 60-day [...]

The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department issued new guidelines on Friday that enforce stricter ethical standards for tax attorneys, accountants, and others offering tax advice. The new standards require those giving advice to rely on all related facts and to examine all relevant federal tax laws before drafting opinion letters that must clearly state [...]

Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, December 17, 2004. Read the full text of the act, as signed, here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US Bankruptcy Judge Letitia Clark took jurisdiction Thursday of a bankruptcy claim filed Tuesday by Russian oil giant Yukos, issuing a temporary 10-day injunction against the Russian government's sale of any Yukos assets and setting off a legal tug of war with Russian authorities over what law should govern the future of the company. Read [...]