As the reported death toll in Indonesia alone exceeded 79,000 Thursday in the aftermath of the tsunami that hit South Asia Sunday, causing more than 120,000 deaths, lawlessness has become a problem in the northern Indonesian region of Aceh, hardest hit by the disaster which originated in an undersea earthquake just 93 kilometers to the [...]

Taiwan's High Court Thursday rejected a second lawsuit filed by the opposition Nationalist Party to nullify the March 20 presidential poll and upheld President Chen Shui-bian's narrow re-election victory. The first lawsuit was dismissed in November after an extensive investigation and a ballot recount, which affirmed the .2 percent margin in favor of Chen. The [...]

The Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal Wednesday denied a request from the parents of Terri Schiavo for a new trial in her long-running right-to-die case. Once the court issues a formal decision within two weeks, Schiavo's husband will be able to order the removal of a feeding tube that has kept his wife alive [...]

Arkansas Circuit Judge Timothy Fox Wednesday declared that a state ban on placing foster children in a household with a gay member was unconstitutional. The Arkansas chapter of the ACLU brought the case, challenging a 1999 regulation that stated that gays cannot become foster parents, and foster children cannot be placed in any home with [...]

Republican Dino Rossi has asked Democrat Christine Gregoire to join him in asking the Washington state legislature to pass a bill allowing a re-vote in the close Washington governor's race, awarded to Gregoire by 128 votes after two state Supreme Court rulings on manual recounts and disputed ballots. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has more.

A survey of US lawyers and legal scholars released Wednesday by Thomson-West legal publishers listed the presidential election, Iraq and gay marriage as the top legal news stories of 2004. The election was picked for its impact on federal judicial appointments, Iraq for the multiplicity of international and national legal issues raised by the situation [...]

Israeli prosecutors Wednesday charged four antiquities collectors with forgery and receiving fraudulent goods, alleging they had passed off ordinary items as biblical relics to unsuspecting consumers and modified items with some historic value by adding inscriptions. The objects include the notorious James ossuary, purported to have held the remains of Jesus' brother and controversially exhibited [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Tuesday upheld a lower court holding that internet telephone service providers should not be subject to state regulation. VoIP (voice-over-internet) providers, such as Vonage had argued against Minnesota's classification of their services as "telecommunications", saying that they merely provide the software to recieve calls via an [...]

The Montana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Democratic candidate Jeanne Windham was the winner of a contested seat in the Montana House of Representatives. After a recount revealed both Windham and her Constitution Party opponent Rick Jore received 1,559 votes, Governor Judy Martz was charged with the duty of breaking the tie. She appointed Jore, [...]

Authorities in Thailand have dispatched hundreds of additional police to coastal provinces hardest hit by Sunday's tsunami in an effort to stem an apparent tide of looting. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has issued stern warnings to would-be looters, and several arrests have already been made. Well-off Western tourists killed and otherwise affected by the [...]