[JURIST] Over 20,000 Bangladeshis marched Saturday in the capital Dhaka calling for electoral reforms ahead of a nationwide poll scheduled for January. Peaceful demonstrations organized by a coalition of 14 opposition parties began Tuesday. The demonstrators were closely watched by police and security services on the alert for violence and what one official called "subversive acts." In recent weeks the opposition grouping has pressed for the resignation of leading members of the country's election commission [official website], who they allege are partisan.

The current four-party government [official website] is expected to hand over power to a caretaker administration in October. Bangladesh [JURIST news archive] has been battling a wave of violence and bombings orchestrated by Islamic militant groups pressing for the country-wide adoption of sharia law. In May, court in Dhaka sentenced seven Islamic militants to death [JURIST report] for the murder of two judges in a bomb attack last year. AFP has more. The Bangladesh Observer has local coverage of a political meeting held in conjunction with the march.

[JURIST] A frustrated New Orleans Parish criminal court [official website] judge said Friday in an emergency order that he will start releasing prisoners on August 29 if their cases do not go to trial by then. Judge Arthur Hunter asked, "If we are still part of the United States and if the Constitution still means something, then why is the criminal justice system 11 months after Hurricane Katrina still in shambles?"

Hunter said with a backlog of some 6000 cases the New Orleans criminal justice system was still in a "pathetic and shameful state of affairs" almost a year after the devastating 2005 storm [JURIST news archive] that broke through levees and flooded the city. "The Constitution guarantees certain rights," he declared. "Facts, reports and studies have concluded constitutional rights are being violated." A public defender shortage exacerbated by a state funding shortfall has meant that a significant number of poor defendants are stuck in jail without representation. Earlier this month, Hunter subpoenaed Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco [Times-Picayune report] to appear before him to discuss the situation, but she declined to appear. A court spokesperson added that charges against any prisoners released would not be dropped and that the order would only affect cases before Hunter. Reuters has more. The New Orleans Times-Picayune has local coverage. ABC26 News in New Orleans offers a local video report.

[JURIST] Russian President Vladimir Putin [official website] has signed a controversial law against extremism that a Kremlin statement described as "aimed at improving the definition of extremist activity by classifying socially dangerous actions as extremist." Crimes embraced by the legislation approved late Friday following passage by the Russian parliament [RFE/RL report] earlier this month include incitement to racial hatred, publicly defending terrorism, "humiliating national merit,” ”public slander of state officials” and “hampering the lawful activity of state organs.”

Human rights groups, independent media organizations and government critics fear that some of the categories are so broad that the law could be used to stifle dissent and repress opponents [WAN press release], and a Moscow radio station reported that G8 leaders had tried to dissuade Putin from approving the measure during the recent St. Petersburg summit. A spokesman for the Committee to Protect Journalists [advocacy website], an international media right group, said in a statement: "This measure is reminiscent of the kind of catchall laws that were used in Soviet times to control the media. Those in power can now label any journalist an ’extremist’ and effectively stifle critical reporting.” The law could result in three years' imprisonment for journalists and potential shutdown of their publications. It is expected to go into force in 90 days. AFP has more.

[JURIST] CBS [media website] has appealed a Federal Communications Commission [official website] decision to fine it $550,000 [JURIST report] for an incident in the 2004 Super Bowl broadcast when performer Janet Jackson experienced what was later euphemistically labeled a "wardrobe malfunction" [Wikipedia backgrounder] that briefly exposed one of her breasts. CBS argued Friday in a filing with the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] that the ruling was "unconstitutional, contrary to the Communications Act and FCC rules and generally arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law." The media corporation has nonetheless been required to pay the fine pending the appeal's outcome.

Prompted in part by this episode, other incidents and pressure from mostly-conservative groups for stricter broadcast standards, President Bush last month signed into law [JURIST report] the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2006 [S. 193 summary], increasing by tenfold the maximum fine for indecency, from $32,500 to $325,000 per station for each violation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The US House of Representatives passed two key bills late Friday in a blitz of legislative activity before its scheduled summer adjournment. A measure [HR 4 materials] described by House Majority Leader John Boehner (D-OH) as representing "the most sweeping changes to America's pension laws in more than 30 years" passed 279-131 [roll call; Boehner press release]. The 900-page bill, designed to preserve the workability of traditional employer-employee pension benefits packages while opening new savings options and reducing the likelihood of government bail-outs, drew opposition from some lawmakers - most of them Democrats - who said it gave companies too much leeway to terminate plans and authorized overbroad exceptions for the airline industry in particular, recently beset by a series of employee pension-related legal actions.

Also Friday, the House by a 230-180 vote [roll call] passed a consolidated bill [HR 5970 materials] to increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over three years and reduce inheritance taxes on wealthy Americans by exempting $5 million of an individual's estate and $10 of a couple's by 2015. Some Democrats balked at the joining of the two disparate measures in a single package, suggesting that it unduly attempted to forced them to approve inheritance measures they opposed. Senate Democratic leaders have already promised to kill the joined bill when it arrives for their consideration. AP has more.

[JURIST] A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that US President George W. Bush has offered Blair a brief apology for apparent US failure to follow proper UK aviation safety procedures in a recent transshipment of American "smart bombs" to Israel via Prestwick International Airport [corporate website] in Glasgow, Scotland. The apology came in talks between the two men in Washington. The spokesman said "It was just one line. As part of the introduction, the president said sorry there was a problem. It was a gracious thing to do." BBC News has more

On Wednesday, UK Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett [official profile] said that a formal complaint would be made to the US [JURIST report] if it was confirmed that any rules were broken. An American Defense Department spokesman asked about the incident insisted Thursday that all protocols had been properly followed by the US and that the flights "comply with existing bilateral agreements" with the UK.