The Michigan Court of Appeals Monday complied with a request by state Attorney General Mike Cox seeking to delay a lower court ruling which allowed public-sector employers to offer domestic partner benefits to employees. In September, a County Circuit judge ruled that providing the benefits did not conflict with a state constitutional amendment defining marriage [...]

Syria has agreed to allow Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the UN probe of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , to interview two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad . The Syrian Ambassador to Britain, Sami al-Khiyami, told the BBC Tuesday that the president's brother and brother-in-law would agree to [...]

Magistrates in Zimbabwe told court officials Monday that they are starving and unable to afford three meals a day, as the country's inflation soars and more than 75% of the population lives below the poverty line. The statement by magistrate Enias Magateto was made in response to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa's urging that magistrates refuse [...]

Abdurahman Jafar, vice chairman of the legal affairs committee of the of the Muslim Council of Britain , warned the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights Monday that the country's anti-terror proposals may undermine the Muslim community's commitment to combating terrorism. Jafar expressed concern that the toughened laws would have a "really horrific counter-productive [...]

Daniel Martin, a 35-year old Gulf War veteran suffering from memory problems, asthma and anxiety, said Tuesday that he feels "vindicated" by a UK Pensions Appeal Tribunal ruling that awarded him a disability pension for Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) . The tribunal said that GWS could be used as an "umbrella term" to cover Martin's [...]

A day after lawyers for Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks , said they have evidence that Hicks suffered sexual abuse and torture while in US custody, the Australian government has said it will investigate Hicks' accusations. Hicks' father and a former detainee have said that he was taken from a US warship and blindfolded, [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Brian J. Foley of Florida Coastal School of Law says that Americans should start caring about the denial of legal process to prisoners held by the US at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) not just out of sentimentality or because it's the "right thing to do", but because it's in Americans' own self-interest… For [...]

Mohamed ElBaradei , Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , Monday called for the start of negotiations on the long-stalled Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty , a global treaty banning the further production of nuclear materials such as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. ElBaradei, presenting the IAEA's annual report to the UN General Assembly, [...]

Paul Volcker, chairman of an independent commission probing the now defunct UN oil-for-food program , blamed lapses at the UN on a "systemic problem" and said he found only "limited" corruption during his testimony Monday to the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations . Last week, Volcker's panel issued a report [...]

US military investigating officer Col. Patrick Reinhert on Tuesday recommended a court-martial for Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez, a National Guard soldier charged with killing two of his superiors in Iraq . Col. Reinhert also noted that capital punishment could be an option for Martinez due to aggravating factors. During Martinez's Article 32 hearing , [...]