Supporters of Proposition 8 , California’s ban on same-sex marriage , filed a brief Friday in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requesting to proceed with an appeal. The brief seeks standing to argue the appeal following a ruling earlier this month that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that a US scientist and his wife have been indicted for conspiring to sell nuclear weapons information to an individual they believed worked for the Venezuelan government. Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni and his wife, Marjorie Mascheroni, were arrested Friday by the FBI and appeared before the US District [...]

Judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday upheld a verdict in favor of Royal Dutch Shell PLC in a case brought by families of Nigerian protesters who were executed by the previous Nigerian government in 1995 for speaking out against the oil company. The court ruled that the Alien [...]

A Rwandan court on Friday sentenced opposition leader Deogratias Mushayidi to life in prison for recruiting rebels and trying to incite violence against the government of current Rwandan President Paul Kagame . Mushayidi was also given two additional lesser sentences for a fraudulent passport and for spreading rumors to incite civil disobedience. He has denied [...]

The Swiss Federal Council and Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) announced Friday that they will introduce legislation establishing stricter rules on assisted suicide after a consultation with local governments, government agencies and other organizations found that 75 percent of respondents favored such a bill . According to the statement, “lthough a clear majority [...]

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called for countries around the world to abolish laws discriminating against gay and lesbian individuals . The message, read on his behalf by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay during a panel discussion about ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, said that laws [...]

The UN Security Council on Friday issued a condemned the recent mass rapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) , calling for justice for the victims. In the statement, issued by current Security Council President Ertugrul Apakan, the council reiterated its support for past resolutions on the subjects of security and respect for women [...]

Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka was convicted Friday by a court-martial on charges of corruption and sentenced to three years in prison. The court found that Fonseka gave preference to an arms company operated by his son-in-law. The court’s conviction and sentencing must still be ratified by President Mahinda Rajapaksa , who is [...]

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a South Florida man to 10 years in prison and revoked his citizenship for concealing his involvement in a Guatemalan peasant massacre on his US immigration forms. Authorities claimed that Gilberto Jordan committed naturalization fraud by concealing his military service and involvement in Guatemala’s December 1982 massacre in the [...]

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday voted 14-4 to approve the so-called New START treaty between Russia and the US. Along with 11 Democrats, three Republicans voted for its passage, including the committee’s ranking member Richard Lugar (R-IN) . The new START treaty replaces the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I treaty) [...]