The Maryland Senate on Thursday approved the Civil Marriage Protection Act , which would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The legislation passed by a 25-22 margin in the Senate, having already been approved by the...

A Guantanamo Bay detainee reached a plea agreement with military prosecutors on Wednesday that included an agreement to testify against other detainees. Under the agreement, detainee Majid Khan , a 31-year-old former Baltimore-area resident, will be...

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled that Italy violated international human rights laws when a group of Somalian and Eritrean migrants traveling from Libya were intercepted by Italian authorities and returned to...

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Wednesday was granted permission by a pretrial chamber to expand his investigation of war crimes in the Ivory Coast to incidents dating...

The Council of Europe's (COE) Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Punishment (CPT) published a report Wednesday rejecting the practice of surgical castration as a means of treatment for...

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a watered-down version of a controversial ultrasound bill Wednesday, which requires women seeking an abortion have a transabdomenal ultrasound before going through with the procedure. The...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday extended the mandate for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) for the next three years. The independent tribunal was set up by the Lebanese government to...

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) on Thursday sent a letter to Google, singed by 36 state attorneys general, expressing concerns about the company's new privacy policy . The...

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled Wednesday that requiring pharmacies to sell Plan B and other emergency contraceptives violates the pharmacists' constitutional right to freedom of religion....

Former Philippines president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of electoral fraud. Arroyo is accused of rigging senate elections in favor of the candidates she supported in 2007. Arroyo...