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 [...]

Former Argentine Navy captain Adolfo Scilingo appeared in a Spanish court Friday where he is on trial for committing genocide during Argentina's "Dirty War." In addition to genocide, Scilingo also faces 30 charges of murder, 93 of causing injury, 255 terrorism charges, and 286 torture charges, all stemming from Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship. The trial, authorized [...]

The United States has announced that it will withhold $10 million in aid to Serbia and Montenegro due to Belgrade's lack of cooperation with the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia . According to the US State Department: The Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005 Section 563 (c) prohibits [...]

The Kansas Senate voted Thursday in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and would prohibit the state from allowing civil unions or granting benefits normally associated with marriage to same-sex couples. The measure, which passed by a 28-11 vote, will now move to the state House, where it must pass [...]