The German Bundesrat , the upper house of parliament, approved a landmark package of constitutional reforms aimed at separating and clarifying the powers of the federal and state governments. The legislation passed the lower house of parliament , the Bundestag, last week by a margin of 428-162. The legislation marks the first major reform that [...]

Russian radio regulators have enjoined 60 radio stations from broadcasting material produced by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , citing violations of licensing laws. Re-broadcast licenses were stripped from the 60 stations because, according to regulators, the stations failed to indicate that they intended to re-broadcast segments produced by the two [...]

David Hicks , the Australian-born terror suspect held at Guantanamo Bay , told family members that conditions at the detention center have worsened in the wake of three detainee suicides in June, Hicks' lawyer David McLeod said Thursday. Hicks told family members that Guantanamo guards have become "very tough" and that he thinks that the [...]

France intends to grant residency papers to thousands of immigrant families with children in French schools, government officials said Thursday. Many children and their parents faced deportation at the end of the French school year after a deportation moratorium was to expire, but French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy last month told regional authorities to implement [...]

The new center-left government under Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi is considering granting citizenship to immigrants who have legally resided in Italy for five or more years, Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said Thursday during a public debate in Rome. Amato rejected proposals to grant citizenship to immigrants after two years, stating that a two-year [...]

Tariq Aziz , the Iraqi deputy prime minister under Saddam Hussein's regime, has gone on hunger strike to protest the refusal of prison authorities to grant him access to his lawyer, a member of his legal team said Thursday. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry, however, denied that Aziz began a hunger strike, saying that [...]

US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George Casey , commander of US forces in Iraq, have promised an open investigation into the rape and murder of a young woman and her family in Mahmudiya , saying the alleged acts were "absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable." The rare joint statement from the two leaders issued [...]

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday denounced recent Israeli military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and voted to approve a resolution calling on Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from violence against civilians, saying the Israeli offensive breaches international humanitarian law. In the resolution, the Council expressed deep concern at the breaches [...]

Howard M. Engle MD et al. v. Liggett Group, Supreme Court of Florida, July 6, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here,

Perdue v. O'Kelley, Supreme Court of Georgia, July 6, 2006 . Read the full text of the ruling . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.