The Democratic-controlled Montana Senate voted 27-21 Friday to give second-reading approval to a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in Montana. Third reading is slated for February 24 before...

US District Judge Mark Wolf dismissed a lawsuit Friday against a Massachusetts town that allows its public school system to teach children about same-sex marriage . Two families of elementary school students filed the...

The United States Friday rejected an international call to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters at a daily press briefing ...

Judge William R. Wilson Jr. of the US District Court of Eastern Arkansas ruled Friday that the Little Rock School District was "substantially complying" with its Revised Desegregation and Education Plan ("Revised Plan")...

An independent report by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories John Dugard to be presented to the 4th session of the UN Human Rights Council [official website; JURIST...

Declaration, Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions, February 23, 2007 . Read the full text of the Declaration . Reported...

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Jakob Kellenberger told reporters Friday that all sides of the conflict in the Sudan are violating international humanitarian law . The statement came after Kellenberger completed...

United Nations human rights experts Friday condemned a proposed Nigerian law banning gay marriage and tightening laws criminalizing homosexuality in the country. While engaging in homosexual acts in Nigeria is already punishable by death by...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a plan to release some prisoners convicted of nonviolent crime to alleviate the burden on California’s overcrowded prison system . The move comes in response to...

A South African court Friday dismissed charges against eight South African mercenaries suspected of plotting a coup against the president of Equatorial Guinea . The Pretoria judge found that the state had not proven its...