The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday in Charron v. Amaral that couples married after the court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage cannot make claims for benefits they would have received had they been allowed to marry sooner. The plaintiff in the case, Michelle Charron, brought a medical malpractice suit against a group of doctors for [...]

Ali Khan : "The International Criminal Court (ICC) joins the crusade to defame Islam, demonize internal conflicts in Muslim nations, and prosecute Muslim leaders for crimes against humanity, rape, genocide, and other international crimes. The Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, holds evidence "on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years." Ocampo will [...]

The UN said Friday that it had reached a "broad understanding" with Pakistan on logistical issues and questions of access to government officials central to a potential investigation into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto . UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Thursday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi to discuss [...]

The Flemish Parliament approved the new EU reform treaty Friday, finalizing Belgian approval of the document, also known as the Treaty of Lisbon . Jose Manuel Barroso , the president of the European Commission , congratulated Belgium on its approval of the treaty in a statement released Friday. According to Barroso's statement, twenty-two European countries [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Friday sentenced a former US Department of Defense (DOD) official to almost five years in prison for disclosing national defense information to Chinese agents. Gregg William Bergersen, an analyst at the DOD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency , pleaded guilty to conspiracy for [...]

A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected a Bush administration appeal against a 2007 order requiring that White House visitor logs be released in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) . The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the appeal because the lower court had [...]

Members of the Pakistan lawyers' movement rallied Thursday against the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for failing to reinstate judges deposed after the declaration of emergency by President Pervez Musharraf in November 2007. Among the deposed judges are a number of justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan , including former [...]

Singapore's Ministry of Law Wednesday rejected claims by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) that the country lacks an independent judiciary and fails to meet international standards of human rights. In its response to the claims, the Ministry rejected the IBAHRI's call for the country to provide increased protections of the freedoms of [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert misappropriated approximately $100,000 by double-billing different sources for travel and hotel expenses, Israeli police said Friday after questioning the politician. Olmert's travel agency, Rishon Tours, would allegedly ask various state agencies and charities to pay Olmert's travel bills without telling them that other bodies were also being asked to pay [...]

The Thai Attorney General's Office filed new corruption charges against former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the country's Supreme Court Friday. The charges relate to a 2003 resolution that reduced fees paid by mobile phone companies to state telecommunications agencies. A company then owned by Thaksin's family saw the greatest benefit from the new [...]