The New Zealand Parliament has approved legislation recognizing same-sex civil unions. The bill, approved Thursday by a vote of 65-55, gives same-sex couples the same rights, entitlements and obligations as married couples and allows them to formally register their relationships under the New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages Act. It enters into force April 26, [...]

The US Marine Corps announced late Thursday that after a five-month investigation it has filed desertion charges against a corporal who disappeared from his Iraq base and who later claimed to have been abducted and held hostage by Iraqi kidnappers. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, an Arabic translator born in Lebanon, went missing June 21, and [...]

AP is reporting that a US soldier has pleaded guilty to killing a severely wounded Iraqi civilian, according to military sources. 8:07 AM ET – Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr., 30, of Winston-Salem, N.C., was charged with murdering the Iraqi August 18 during fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City. He and other soldiers claimed that [...]

Sentencing transcript for Jim Taricani , United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, Judge Ernest C. Torres, December 9, 2004. Read the full transcript here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Rights groups are warning that the sweeping intelligence reform package now awaiting signature by the President after Senate passage yesterday is better than earlier versions but still contains multiple provisions that threaten privacy and personal freedom. An ACLU spokesperson said in a statement late Wednesday that "While some extreme anti-immigrant measures were rejected, the bill [...]

The former president of Morris Brown College, an historically black institution in Atlanta, Georgia, has been charged with taking out some $5 million in unauthorized federal student loans in the names of students who did not want them and using the funds to pay college expenses. Delores Cross, 68, was President of Morris Brown between [...]

Seif el-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has said that the Libyan government will not execute the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor who were found guilty by a Libyan court in May of knowingly infecting more than 400 children with HIV in 1998. They were subsequently sentenced to death by [...]

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin Thursday announced plans to reform the country's current 35-hour workweek. While letting that formal limit stand, Raffarin said companies will be allowed to negotiate their own deals with employees regarding overtime. The 35-hour workweek was introduced under a Socialist administration in 1998, and was aimed at boosting employment by forcing [...]

A jury has awarded the parents of 17-year old David Boim $52 million in damages in one of the first jury awards against US-based charities accused of supporting terrorism. Boim was killed by gunmen in Israel's West Bank in 1996. Before trial, US Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys found the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and [...]

The United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of 23 mainstream Shiite groups under the auspices of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, announced Thursday a list of 228 candidates running for office in the Iraq elections scheduled for January 30. Iraq's Sunni factions, who have indicated that they may boycott the election, were not included in the list, [...]