Following up a JURIST report from earlier today, US Central Command has now announced that Staff Sgt. Jonathan J. Alban-Cardenas has been convicted of one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder during a general court-martial at the 1st Cavalry Division courthouse in Camp Liberty, Baghdad. A military judge handed down [...]

In a unanimous ruling Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a state law prohibiting consensual sex between unmarried people. Read the opinion . The justices based their decision on Lawrence v. Texas , the 2003 US Supreme Court case voiding a state anti-sodomy law. As in that case, the VA Supreme Court found the [...]

Army Spc. Charles Graner was found guilty late Friday afternoon of conspiracy, assault, maltreating prisoners, dereliction of duty and committing indecent acts, all charges that arose out of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. The military jury in Graner's court-martial deliberated less than five hours and Graner now faces up to 17 1/2 years jail time. [...]

FOX News is reporting that after hearing arguments in a case seeking to prevent a prayer at President Bush's upcoming inauguration, US District Judge John Bates has rejected the challenge of plaintiff Michael Newdow . Read the opinion here . 4:48 PM ET – FOX News now has a story here.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Chicago-based Sidley Austin Brown & Wood , for alleged discrimination against the firm's older lawyers. The suit, which could cost the firm millions of dollars, stems from a 1999 decision to demote 31 of the firm's lawyers from "partner" status, most of whom [...]

Following up on a JURIST report from earlier today, the Ukraine Supreme Court announced Friday that on Monday morning Kyiv time it would hear the appeal filed earlier today by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukoych in a final attempt to halt the inauguration of rival Viktor Yushchenko . Reuters has more.

Outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge , in an interview with BBC News airing Friday, said that the US does not condone the use of torture to extract information from terrorists, but added that "under an extreme set of circumstances," where it could prevent a major loss of life, torture "could happen." Ridge's comments [...]

Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott has filed a federal lawsuit against Ryan Pitylak, a 22-year-old college student, and his 40-year-old business partner, Mark Trotter, who Abbott says head the world's fourth-largest spamming operation. According to allegations in the lawsuit , Pitylak and Trotter have sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited, misleading e-mails in violation of [...]

US District Judge John Bates has heard arguments in a case seeking to prevent the recitation of a prayer during President Bush' inauguration next week. Plaintiff Michael Newdow , who unsuccessfully tried to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, argued that allowing a Christian prayer at the ceremony forces him to [...]

Italy's Constitutional Court will allow a referendum to overturn parts of a controversial new Italian law on fertility treatments to proceed, but rejected a call for a referendum to completely overturn the law. Last year, Italian lawmakers passed a measure which allows only cohabitating heterosexual couples access to fertility treatments, bans egg or sperm donation [...]