The US Supreme Court Tuesday heard oral arguments in Permanent Mission of India v. New York , a case in which the justices will determine whether US courts can hear claims against foreign governments regarding unpaid property taxes for diplomatic residences. The city of New York brought the claim against India and Mongolia in 2003, [...]

A Syrian court Tuesday sentenced human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni to five years in prison and imposed a $2,000-equivalent fine for spreading false information harmful to the state. Al-Bunni has been detained since he and several other activists were arrested last year following their signature of the Beirut-Damascus Declaration . The declaration calls for normalization [...]

A Chinese court has found Yahoo China liable for copyright infringement by linking to websites that illegally offered free downloads of copyrighted music, Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday. Yahoo China was ordered to pay a fine of 200,000 yuan and to remove the links. Although most of the music was hosted on third-party websites, Beijing's [...]

The North Dakota Legislative Assembly passed a bill Monday prohibiting abortion in the state if the US Supreme Court ever declares that such a move would be constitutional. The measure, which Governor John Hoeven is expected to sign, passed the state House 68-24 and the Senate 29-16. In the event that the US Supreme Court [...]

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson expressed hope Monday that the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 people – including the gunman – dead in the largest shooting rampage in US history would prompt the United States to take action in support of an international arms trade treaty . [...]

An Argentine judge ruled Monday that former Argentine President Reynaldo Bignone should stand trial for the kidnapping of children of dissidents killed during Argentina's 1976-83 "Dirty War" . The children were allegedly given new identities after their kidnappings. Bignone also faces trial on separate charges connected to the illegal arrest, torture and killing of dissidents [...]

Lord Woolf , former Lord Chief Justice of English and Wales, told BBC Radio in an interview broadcast Tuesday that shifting the traditional position of Lord Chancellor into a new Ministry of Justice split off from the current Home Office represented a major constitutional change that should be undertaken only after serious study, and not [...]

Some 3000 Pakistani lawyers and anti-government activists demonstrated outside the Supreme Court building in Islamabad Tuesday as suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry arrived for his sixth hearing before Pakistan's Supreme Judicial Council on alleged judicial misconduct. Chaudhry was technically made "non-functional" by a March 9 order of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. No specifics were provided [...]

Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal Monday reinstated some 50 members of the country's Congress dismissed last month by order of Ecuador's electoral tribunal after they were found to have illegally interfered with a referendum pushed by President Rafael Correa on whether to draft a new constitution . The referendum held April 15 resulted in a massive vote [...]

The three-drug "cocktail" used to execute death row inmates by lethal injection can fail, causing inmates to suffer a painful death, according to a study published Monday by PLoS Medicine . The study's authors said in a summary of their work: We were able to analyze only a limited number of executions. However, our findings [...]