Defense contractor Halliburton Inc. may have overcharged the federal government by more than $100 million, according to an audit conducted by the Defense Contract Audit Agency and released Monday by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) , which questioned $108 million in costs charged by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) for delivering fuel to civilians [...]

In Monday's environmental law news, the UK has announced it will go ahead in late April or early May with its original plan for limiting CO2 output under the European Union's emissions trading scheme in keeping with Kyoto Protocol requirements. The UK had proposed a revised plan that would have increased their limits for the [...]

AP is reporting that a California Superior Court judge has ruled that California's law limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman is unconstitutional. 4:32 PM ET – San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer has ruled that the California law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is unconstitutional. "The state's protracted [...]

The leaders of United States, Canada and Mexico will discuss a joint plan to protect North American borders and improve movement between countries when they meet next week at a North American summit in Texas. A report released Monday , jointly sponsored by the foreign relation councils of all three nations, calls for the creation [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Monday sentenced Vincent Rutaganira, a former local leader, to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a charge of extermination by omission. In the court's first judgment this year, the court handed down its shortest sentence ever. The ICTR was established by the UN in 1995 to [...]

Former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj Monday pleaded not guilty in his initial appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . Haradinaj, who resigned his post and turning himself over to the court last week, plead not guilty to all 37 counts of war crimes including murder, persecution, and rape. His [...]

After questioning the rationale for continued use of capital punishment earlier this year, China has decided to reform but not eliminate the death penalty. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao announced the reforms Monday , which some experts believe could lower the number of executions in the country by 30%. Under Chinese law 68 crimes can [...]

Abu Ali, a US citizen who allegedly joined al-Qaida while studying abroad in Saudi Arabia, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of providing material aid to terrorists . Ali, a former Virginia high school valedictorian, is accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush, in addition to providing support and funds to al-Qaida. An FBI [...]

After a Monday meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas , UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that the UN will establish a register of property damage caused by the construction of Israel's two-year-old West Bank separation barrier . Annan said the UN position on the barrier was clear: an advisory opinion by the International Court [...]

The United Nations' Commission on Human Rights began its annual six-week session on Monday. This year's meeting may produce significant criticism of human rights abuses committed by the US against prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Activist groups, such as Human Rights Watch , are calling for the UN to condemn the American actions, and Cuba [...]