The US Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to send a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage to the Senate floor for consideration. The amendment , sponsored by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) and co-sponsored by 29 others, defines marriage as "the union of a man and a woman." Committee members approved the amendment 10-8, voting [...]

Jailed Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour Thursday lost his appeal for a retrial following his December conviction for forging signatures on documents registering his Al-Ghad Party for last year's presidential election {JURIST news archive]. Nour , who finished a distant second to President Hosni Mubarak last year in the election that observers said was marred [...]

In an historic proclamation approved Thursday, Nepal's reinstated parliament stripped all the privileges and powers of King Gyanendra , who gave up direct rule of the country after 19-days of mass protests in April. The proclamation effectively makes Nepal's 237-year old monarchy ceremonial and recognizes the Nepali people as the source of the state power [...]

The Oregon Court of Appeals has vacated a $150 million jury verdict against cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris and remanded the case for a new trial to determine punitive damages. Philip Morris appealed a judgment by Multnomah County Circuit Judge Roosevelt Robinson, who found the 2002 jury award "grossly excessive" and reduced it to $100 million. [...]

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal has said that 16 Saudi detainees now held by the US at Guantanamo Bay will be returned to Saudi Arabia in the next few days. During an interview with US media Wednesday, al-Faisal said that after their return to Saudi Arabia, the detainees will be "will be incarcerated and checked, [...]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has said that all public companies, regardless of their size, must eventually comply with rules implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 , which is designed to protect investors. The decision Wednesday follows months of requests by small and mid-size businesses for an exemption from the rules, which could be [...]

James Tobin , President Bush's 2004 campaign chairman for New England, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after being convicted in December for his involvement in jamming phone lines to block Democratic voting drives during the 2002 Senate election in New Hampshire. In that race, the Republican candidate, Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) , [...]

The United States on Thursday introduced a new draft nuclear weapons treaty at a meeting of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. The Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) , tabled by Stephen G. Rademaker , assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, would legally bind its signatories to a ban [...]

Thousands of Turks marched in Ankara on Thursday to denounce the shooting of five judges Wednesday in the Council of State , Turkey's highest administrative court. The judges were shot by an attacker, reported to be a lawyer, who disagreed with a recent ruling made by the court denying a promotion to a teacher because [...]

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirmed Wednesday that military officials are conflicted about the specific guidelines on interrogation techniques to be included in a new Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation during a hearing with the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee . Defense officials are struggling over whether to include different standards [...]