The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court of California to weigh in on whether supporters of Proposition 8 , California’s same-sex marriage ban, have standing to defend the measure when state officials have refused to do so. Judge Vaughn Walker of the US District Court for the [...]

Archbishop Jerome Listecki announced Tuesday that the Archodiocese of Milwaukee will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a result of financial strain from lawsuits over the clergy sex abuse scandals . The archdiocese’s purpose in filing the petition is to achieve the dual goals of compensating remaining victims and survivors of the abuses and [...]

Spanish National Court judge Fernando Andreu on Tuesday issued a writ to pursue an investigation against Iraqi Lieutenant General Abdol Hossein Al Shemmari for allegedly ordering a July 2009 strike against Iranian exiles at Camp Ashraf in which 11 unarmed civilians were killed, 36 were detained and approximately 500 were injured. Most of the citizens [...]

The Hungarian government on Tuesday continued to defend its controversial new media law in the face of criticism from the EU. The new law, which entered into force this week, creates the National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH) , which controls private television and radio broadcasters, newspapers and online news sites. Under the new law, [...]

The Supreme Court of California ruled Monday that law enforcement officers can legally search text messages on a suspect’s cell phone without a warrant incident to a lawful custodial arrest. The court held 5-2 that a search of the defendant’s cell phone text messages in the police station 90 minutes after the arrest did not [...]

The governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was shot and killed Tuesday by one of his own security guards, apparently because of his opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law . Taseer, a senior member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) , was shot while getting into his car at Islamabad’s Kohsar Market and died later [...]

Afghanistan’s five-judge panel set up last week to investigate election complaints said Monday that it will issue rulings in time for President Hamid Karzai to seat the parliament as scheduled on January 20. Karzai has promised to have the parliament seated on time amid controversy surrounding the results of last September’s parliamentary elections . However, [...]

The Uganda High Court on Monday issued a permanent injunction and awarded damages to plaintiffs who were alleged to be homosexuals by the Ugandan tabloid newspaper, The Rolling Stone. The complaint was filed by Uganda’s Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law on behalf of three members who, along with 97 other individuals, [...]

Iranian opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi on Monday publicly invited the government to put him on trial for the civil unrest and violence that erupted in the wake of the hotly disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . Karroubi said his only request is that the trial be open and fair, a challenge that could [...]

Liberal Russian political activist and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov was sentenced Sunday to 15 days in jail for his part in an unauthorized protest march in Moscow on December 31. Nemtsov, leader of the opposition group Solidarity , and an outspoken critic of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin , was arrested alongside about [...]