Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suspend peace talks: Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tigers) have announced they are suspending the first round of peace talks they have had with the Colombo Government in nearly 20 years due to their "displeasure" at the handling of some "critical issues," as they wrote in their letter. The letter gave no hint of a return to the civil war that has torn apart the nation for the last two decades, and observers expect feverish diplomatic activity over the next few days to try to work out a compromise, according to the BBC. The government stresses that it is "committed to continue with the peace process while addressing the shortcomings of implementing the ceasefire agreement." Previous rounds of negotiations have succeeded in consolidating the February 2002 ceasefire, setting up provisional administrative arrangements and addressing a final political settlement. The Tigers dropped their demand for independence and said they would settle for regional autonomy, while the government agreed for the first time to share power with the Tigers. Until a ceasefire was first declared in December 2001, the Tigers had been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east.

Supreme Court to revisit principles of Miranda rights: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to revisit the principles laid out in the Miranda warnings that police must give to potential suspects at the time of arrest or detention, according to CNN.com. The justices have decided to hear the case of U.S. v. Patane, which questions whether evidence obtained at a crime scene before the full warnings have been read can be used in court. The case under consideration is United States v. Patane, in which Samuel Patane interrupted officers while his rights were being read. After further questioning and a search of his home, federal agents found an illegal handgun. A federal appeals court ruled that the pistol could not be used against Patane at trial. Police found the gun because they questioned Patane without Miranda warnings, the lower court found last year, according to CNN.com. The Bush administration appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing Patane volunteered information after refusing Miranda warnings to keep silent. Solicitor General Theodore Olson said there is often a fuzzy legal line for authorities in questioning suspects, particularly those who dismiss police attempts to inform them of their constitutional rights.

Syphilis infections in Boston surge as cases fall nationwide: Once on the brink of elimination nationwide, the number of local cases of syphilis has undergone a near doubling in the past two years, according to The Boston Globe. However, the real concern amongst public health authorities is that the resurgence could foreshadow an explosion of new HIV infections. Syphilis can result in brain damage and other serious health consequences if left untreated and the outbreak has been concentrated in Boston, but it follows a reemergence of syphilis in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York-with the bacterial disease especially prevalent in gay communities, according to The Globe. "This is something that can be cured, but it's infectious, so you've got to do something about it," said one official. The ease with which syphilis spreads became clear in recent months. In 2001, Massachusetts recorded 105 cases of infectious syphilis. A year later, it tracked an 87 percent rise in the disease. And the trend is continuing: Through the first three months of 2003, 52 infectious syphilis cases had been reported, up from 32 in the same period last year, according to The Globe.