Top UN officials Friday condemned Israel, the Palestinians and Lebanese Hezbollah militants for intentionally inflicting civilian casualties on one another contrary to international humanitarian law as violence continued to escalate in the Middle East, with Israel stepping up military action against Lebanese targets and Hezbollah militants attacking Haifa with rockets. Fighting has intensified in recent [...]

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as only between a man and a woman. The Court held that the ACLU lacked standing to bring the challenge on behalf of three state representatives, ACLU members, and [...]

A legal advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Friday that the plan of Yushchenko's political rival and former Ukrainian prime minister Viktor Yanukovych , to directly nominate a candidate to serve as prime minister could constitute an illegal seizure of power. Ukraine is in the midst of a political crisis as no government has [...]

Belgrade prosecutors filed criminal charges against ten Serbs on Friday, accusing them of hiding indicted war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic from authorities, according to Belgrade radio station B92 . The charges say the accused aided Mladic with the knowledge that he is wanted for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [...]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) told reporters Friday that he anticipates easy passage of a bill renewing expiring sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) when it comes before the full Senate. Frist said the Senate will vote on the bill either by the end of June or after the month-long August break. [...]

Accusations against Guantanamo Bay detainees made in declassified documents contain basic factual errors and easily-refuted claims, the Boston Globe reported Friday. After reviewing declassified records, Globe journalists uncovered a number of simple mistakes that they said raised "questions about whether the US military has thoroughly investigated its cases against the roughly 400 inmates." Lawyers defending [...]

Indian officials have named three suspects in Tuesday's Mumbai train bombings that killed some 180 people in seven different coordinated blasts after authorities detained 350 people for questioning Thursday. The suspects – Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz named Thursday and a third man known only as Rahil – were disclosed as a man claiming to [...]

Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte was unceremoniously cut off at a Friday hearing for seven Bosnian Serbs indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre when she began a speech memorializing the massacre's 11th anniversary. Defense counsel objected to the speech, calling [...]

AP is reporting that a federal appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling that struck down Nebraska's ban on same-sex marriage . A federal judge struck down the ban last May, ruling that it interferes with the rights of gay couples and also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in many [...]

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Thursday that the United Nations does not have the authority to compel Serbia on the status of Kosovo, and that the two parties need to reach a negotiated agreement on the territory. Churkin reportedly told the UN Security Council that he does not think the "international community has legal, [...]