Former Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn and former ethics officer Kevin Hunsaker surrendered to authorities Thursday and agreed to face felony charges stemming from their roles in the corporate spying scandal . After a brief hearing, Dunn was released on her own recognizance. She will return to court for a November 17 arraignment. Hunsaker's arraignment date [...]

The US House Ethics Committee Thursday opened its investigation into allegations of misconduct related to the House Page program , issuing nearly four dozen subpoenas for witnesses and documents, according to statements issued by the Committee leadership. A special bipartisan subcommittee, set up under HR 1065 , is being led by Doc Hastings (R-WA) , [...]

California’s First District State Court of Appeal upheld a state ban on gay marriage Thursday. In a 2-1 decision , the court held that the ban was not unconstitutional because it did not violate any "vested fundamental right" of gays and lesbians. The move overturns a March 2005 ruling by San Francisco Superior Court Judge [...]

US President George W. Bush attached a signing statement to the 2007 spending bill for the Homeland Security Department Thursday, giving himself the authority to make changes to the agency's annual Privacy Office reports. Congress stated that only the Department's Privacy Officer could edit the reports, designed to ensure that the Department obeys privacy rules. [...]

The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that it has reached an agreement for the settlement of pretexting charges against Virginia-based Integrity Security & Investigation Services . Current federal law allows the government to only collect $2,700 in damages, the entire sum of profit that the company made from selling confidential phone records and credit card [...]

Israel's High Court Thursday gave the state five days to explain why it appointed government officials to investigate its handling of the recent Hezbollah conflict rather than establish an independent inquiry committee. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel last week called on the High Court to intervene as part of its campaign for a [...]

A UN Human Rights Council envoy on Thursday called for an investigation by the International Criminal Court into whether Israel committed war crimes during the 34-day Middle East conflict . In a report, UN special rapporteur on food rights Jean Ziegler wrote that Israel's bombing campaign against Lebanon blocked access to food and water by [...]

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled that Germany violated the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights by allowing a lawsuit to continue for 30 years. Jurgen Grasser filed a lawsuit against the city of Saarbrucken in 1974 after the city refused to grant him a building permit for a shopping center [...]

Britain's High Court Thursday quashed the four-week suspension of London Mayor Ken Livingstone , originally handed down by the Adjudication Panel for England in February. The suspension was ordered after Livingstone made controversial comments to a Jewish journalist. A High Court judge overturned the suspension, but did not make an immediate decision on whether the [...]

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an emergency proclamation Wednesday to relieve prison overcrowding by allowing inmates to be transferred to other states. Citing severe overcrowding as a threat to the health and safety in 29 of the state's 33 prisons, Schwarzenegger said: "Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and [...]