A federal judge has delayed the start of the class-action fraud suit against WorldCom until March 17, so that lawyers can interview witnesses from former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers fraud trial after it ends in the next few weeks. US District Judge Denise Cote also issued strict guidelines for testimony and arguments, and ordered that [...]

An Arabic translator who took computer disks full of classified documents out of the Guantanamo Bay naval base was sentenced Friday to 20 months in prison by the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts . Ahmed Mehalba admitted taking the documents, but said he was only trying to do a good job by [...]

Log of (and links to) CID reports of investigations into US treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan, US Department of Defense, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request, February 16, 2005 . Read the full text of the reports here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Voters in Spain head to the polls Sunday to decide a national referendum on the European Constitution. Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia have already ratified the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe in parliamentary votes, but eight additional states – including France, the UK, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Poland – are [...]

Supporters and opponents turned out Saturday on the first day of the British fox-hunt ban. The ban, passed by the House of Commons last year , outlaws hunting with dogs, but allows for exercising hounds, chasing a scent and flushing out foxes to be shot. A number of confrontations and arrests occured Saturday after police [...]

Human rights groups criticized Bush pick for intelligence director nominee John Negroponte Friday, stating the current US ambassador to Iraq has a record of supporting human rights violations. Critics allege that during his role as ambassador to Honduras in the early 1980's, Negroponte dramatically underplayed human rights problems by backing Contra rebels and supporting Honduran [...]

US District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee sentenced former Boeing CFO Michael Sears to four months in prison Friday for aiding and abetting illegal employment negotiations . Sears pleaded guilty in November to charges that he offered then-Air Force chief acquisition official Darleen Druyun a $250,000 executive position with Boeing at the same time she [...]

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe announced Friday that he will be holding elections as required by the original Togolese constitution. Faure had been placed in power by Togo's military and had had the constitution changed to allow him to serve out his father's remaining presidential term. Regional African organizations nonetheless exerted strong amounts of pressure on [...]

Moussaoui v. United States, brief in opposition to certiorari petition by Zacarias Moussaoui to the US Supreme Court, US Department of Justice, redacted version filed February 17, 2005 . Review the redacted brief in opposition via FindLaw. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, National Review Board, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, February 18, 2005 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.