The Bosnian Serb government apologized for the first time Wednesday to family members and friends of the roughly 8,000 Muslims killed in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. The government issued a statement in which it said it "sympathizes with the pain of relatives of the Srebrenica victims and expresses sincere regrets and apologies over the [...]

The Scottish Executive Wednesday unanimously approved a ban on smoking in enclosed public places. Anti-tobacco and medical groups had urged the ban, claiming that voluntary measures currently in place were ineffective. Similar to those already adopted in Ireland, Norway and parts of the US, the ban will be enforced by environmental health officers, and violations [...]

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Environmental Protection Agency seeking to force the agency to take action on nitrogen entering the bay and harming animals. According to the environmental group, nitrogen entering the watershed from a variety of sources, such as manure runoff from farms and sewage plants, creates huge algae [...]

The late Tuesday announcement of Attorney General John Ashcroft's resignation (previously reported in JURIST's Paper Chase) prompted differing responses Tuesday and Wednesday from interest groups and lawmakers around the country, reflecting a sometimes divisive reign as the country's top law enforcement official. The conservative American Center for Law and Justice praised Ashcroft for providing "exceptional [...]

Sudanese police raided the El-Geer refugee camp near Nyala Wednesday morning, just one day after the signing of a peace accord between the government and rebel forces. The assault took place in front of African Union officials present to monitor the humanitarian conditions of the camp and only hours before official UN inspectors arrived to [...]

The UN and France Wednesday began evacuations of personnel on peacekeeping missions in the Ivory Coast after a week of violence left at least 27 dead and more than 900 injured. The UN and France have at least 10,000 peacekeepers in the West African nation to maintain a year-old cease-fire agreement between government and rebel [...]

The speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Rauhi Fattouh, will temporarily fill the post of president of the Palestinian Authority should Yasser Arafat die, Palestinian leaders confirmed Wednesday. Current Palestinian law (Article 54(2) of the Palestinian Basic Law) calls for the speaker to hold the position until elections can be held, but some officials were reportedly [...]

John D. Ashcroft to President George W. Bush, November 2, 2004 . Excerpt: The demands of justice are both rewarding and depleting. I take great personal satisfaction in the record which has been developed. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved. The rule of law has been [...]

Here's a run-down of law-related events, expected developments and live webcasts on JURIST's docket for Wednesday, November 10. The US Supreme Court hears 10 AM ET arguments in two cases today. In the first, Illinois v. Caballes (case summary from Duke Law School), the Court will determine whether the Fourth Amendment requires a reasonable, articulabe [...]

Ashcroft v. State of Oregon, Petition for a Writ of Certiorai, Supreme Court of the United States, November 9, 2004 . Read the full text of the petition here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.