Leading Monday's states brief, Connecticut has became the first state to challenge the new federal Energy Policy Act , allowing the developers of power projects to appeal directly to the federal government when state officials deny or delay permits. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a motion to dismiss a federal petition filed by the backers [...]

Oregon Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond heard oral arguments Monday in the latest case to challenge the constitutionality of Measure 36 , a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by Oregon voters on November 2, 2004. Representing Basic Rights Oregon , Portland lawyer Mark Johnson argued that Measure 36 revised rather than amended the Oregon Constitution [...]

AP is reporting that Pfc. Lynndie England has been convicted on six of seven counts in court-martial proceedings for her role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal . 4:35 PM ET – After some two hours of deliberation the military jury of five officers found England guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts [...]

Anti-war protestor and Gold Star Mother Cindy Sheehan was arrested Monday while protesting outside the White House. Sheehan and dozens of other Iraq war protesters were taken into custody by police after they were warned three times that they were breaking the law by sitting on the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue and failing to keep [...]

Croatian journalist Marijan Krizic pleaded not guilty Monday before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to charges that he revealed the identity of a protected witness in the Tihomir Blaskic case earlier this year. Krizic and fellow journalist Josip Jovic were charged with contempt under Rule 77 of the court's Rules of Procedure [...]

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted of false accounting charges by an Italian court Monday. Prosecutors had charged the leader and media empire mogul with numerous counts of false accounting, including false bookkeeping charges, in connection to his alleged involvement in a plot to illegally move money from his media holding company, All Iberian, [...]

The Bush administration has asked the US Supreme Court to reinstate a legislative ban on late-term "partial birth" abortions, appealing a July ruling by the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis that upheld a Nebraska federal district court ruling finding the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional because it lacks an [...]

Prosecutors wrapped up closing arguments Monday in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case involving Pfc. Lynndie England by describing her as a willing participant in the scandal while defense attorneys portrayed her as impressionable and easily influenced by a manipulative boyfriend. England faces a prison sentence of up 11 years if convicted on all seven [...]

The International Crisis Group (ICG) of conflict monitors Monday criticized Iraq's constitutional process for deepening the country's political fractures and expediting Iraq's violent break up. A new ICG report noted that the draft Iraqi constitution to be put to a referendum October 15 reflects Shiite and Kurdish influence, but not significant Sunni input. The group [...]

In addition to the conviction and sentencing of al Qaeda cell leader Immad Yarkas , the head of al Qaeda in Spain, the Spanish High Court Monday also sentenced 17 other men to jail terms varying from 6 to 11 years and freed the remaining six defendants in Europe's largest trial of those suspected of [...]