In Wednesday's environmental law news, Pennsylvania has joined 14 other states suing the US Department of Energy (DOE) , alleging that the agency is 6 to 13 years behind schedule in updating efficiency standards for some household and...

A US lumber industry trade group has challenged the constitutionality of the dispute settlement system under the North American Free Trade Agreement , arguing that the system violates due process. The Coalition for Fair Lumber...

The Australian government has backed away from proposals to strip citizenship from those convicted of terrorism offenses, instead suggesting that it may be more effective to monitor them. Australian Prime Minister John Howard originally supported removing citizenship...

Former Afghan mujahideen Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf said Wednesday that he supported an inquiry into abuses committed by fighters during the civil war in Afghanistan in the 1990s, but he rejected calls...

AP is reporting that the Massachusetts state legislature has rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have banned gay marriage but allowed civil unions. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage when the...

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet can stand trial for an alleged campaign of abduction and murder of political opponents during his leadership, Chile's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The ruling was the third by the...

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) , its coalition partner the New Komeito Party and its largest opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan , agreed Wednesday to establish a...

AP is reporting that a federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools with the language "under God" is unconstitutional. The judge granted legal standing to...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that a British ban on parent and children-in-law marriages violated rights guaranteed by Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights . A man...

Thousands of demonstrators continued to pour into Kathmandu Wednesday to protest the totalitarian rule of King Gyanendra . Nepali police detained hundreds of pro-democracy activists Tuesday in the capitol city, including a former prime minister, for...