The tax fraud trial of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and British lawyer David Mills was adjourned Tuesday after the defense applied to have one of the judges taken off the case. Judge Edoardo d'Avossa was involved in other Berlusconi trials, including the "Medusa" case, which resulted in the former prime minister's acquittal on [...]

A judge in the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court on Monday urged prosecutors to either charge hospital workers accused of killing four patients in the wake of Hurricane Katrina or drop the case. Judge Calvin Johnson said he is concerned that no formal indictment has been brought against the workers and said that the case [...]

The Supreme Court of Israel ruled 6-1 Tuesday that same-sex marriages ordained abroad must be recognized by the state . The ruling does not allow for same-sex civil marriages to occur in Israel but mandates that the government recognize the unions if performed in other nations. While gay rights activists are encouraged by the decision, [...]

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that the 1996 Communications Decency Act protects online users, including bloggers, who republish defamatory statements written by others from liability. Citing First Amendment concerns, the court said in its opinion that plaintiffs claiming defamation can bring suit only against the "original source of the statement." The court said holding [...]

Israel's use of force during its 33-day standoff with Hezbollah in Lebanon was "excessive, indiscriminate and disproportionate" in "flagrant violation" of international law, according to a report issued Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Council . The report is the product of a commission of inquiry sent to the Middle East to investigate the consequences [...]

A draft UN General Assembly resolution condemning human rights violations in Uzbekistan has been blocked in the General Assembly's Third Committee by a group of mainly developing nations that claim such resolutions are politically motivated. The resolution would have expressed "grave concern" at Uzbekistan's use of force to quell a May 2005 uprising in Andijan, [...]

Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington, one of several US Marines facing court-martial in connection with the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania , told a military court Monday that agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service told him not to ask for a defense lawyer and threatened him with the death penalty [...]

The US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Monday that the National Security Agency (NSA) can withhold documents and information relating to its Terrorist Surveillance Program requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) . The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the People for the American Way , which sought information [...]

A US judge sentenced Bosnian immigrant Marko Boskic to 63 months in prison Monday for failing to reveal his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre while trying to enter the US as a refugee. Boskic was charged in August 2004 with five counts of making false declarations on US immigration applications and in an interview [...]

Former US Attorney General Janet Reno joined seven other former US Justice Department officials Monday in opposing an interpretation of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) that would deny suspected terrorists held in the US access to the civilian court system. The former prosecutors filed an amicus brief with the US Court of Appeals [...]