The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Wednesday. In Setser v. US , the justices heard arguments on a federal district court’s power to determine whether a federal sentence will be served consecutively or concurrently to an as-yet undischarged state sentence. The petitioner argued that under § 3584 of the Sentencing [...]

The US Senate voted Tuesday to reject an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 that would have struck a provision authorizing the president to use “all necessary and appropriate force” to detain individuals suspected of terrorism. The amendment, authored by Senator Mark Udall and proposed by Senator Rand Paul , suggested to [...]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Facebook settled on Tuesday regarding Facebook’s practices relating to user privacy. The FTC filed a complaint against Facebook alleging that privacy settings on the site failed to apply to third party sites and applications . Under the settlement agreement Facebook must make users fully aware of all changes in [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) took former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo into custody on Wednesday for his upcoming initial appearance before the court. He was surrendered to the ICC by the national authorities of the Ivory Coast on Tuesday and brought to the Netherlands in response to a warrant of arrest that was issued [...]

The Queensland Parliament passed legislation on Wednesday to legally recognize civil unions between same-sex couples. Queensland has joined its fellow Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in recognizing same-sex unions. The bill passed with 47 MPs voting in favor and 40 voting against it. Speaking in support of the bill [...]

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday announced that the country has made the payment required to help fund the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) , which has been tasked with investigating the assassination of a Lebanese statesman. According to Mikati, Lebanon transferred the $36 million it was required to contribute in an effort [...]

A judge for the New York Supreme Court for Livingston County has ruled that a constitutional challenge to the state law legalizing same-sex marriage may proceed. Judge Robert Wiggins refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed in July by New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms on the theory that there is a justiciable issue as to whether [...]

A Chilean judge on Tuesday issued an indictment against former US Navy Captain Ray Davis, which included a request that he be extradited to Chile. The indictment charges Davis with the homicides of journalist Charles Horman and US university student Frank Teruggi. Both crimes were alleged to have been committed during the 1973-1990 regime of [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Tuesday. In Hall v. US , the justices heard arguments on a conflict between tax law and bankruptcy procedures, regarding the sale of family farms under Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code . The Hall family, after filing bankruptcy for their farm, found a [...]

Nobel peace laureate Tawakkul Karman on Monday uged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct an investigation into the violent crackdown on dissent and alleged human rights violations by the country’s former president, Ali Abdullah Sakeh . Although Karman presented ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo with a file on crimes she believes were committed by Saleh’s [...]