Italian lawmakers are planning to draft legislation that would give some legal recognition to same-sex unions , officials from the Italian Senate said Thursday. Senate leaders have requested that a bill be drafted by January 31 that would give legal status to unions of all unmarried couples, both heterosexual and homosexual, for tax purposes and [...]
California v. Hewlett-Packard, Superior Court of California, December 7, 2006 . Read the full text of the settlement . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
The US Supreme Court Thursday granted certiorari in five cases , including two antitrust cases, and three criminal appeals. There are currently two other antitrust cases to be heard by the court this term. Credit Suisse v. Glen Billing (05-1157) , which Chief Justice Roberts, without comment, decided to take no part in, examines allegations [...]
Iraq Study Group Report, Iraq Study Group, December 7, 2006 . Read the full text of the report . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.
Canada’s House of Commons voted 175 to 123 Thursday against reopening debate on same-sex marriage . The result effectively upheld Canada’s 2005 law allowing equal marriage rights for same-sex couples , passed under the leadership of former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. Canadian Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised repeatedly since coming to power [...]
Hewlett-Packard reached a $14.5 million settlement agreement with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Thursday in an unfair business practices suit stemming from HP's allegedly fraudulent attempts to obtain certain phone records, a practice known as "pretexting." Lockyer "commend the firm for cooperating instead of stonewalling" and announced that $13.5 million of the settlement would [...]
Outgoing Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) presented a bill Thursday that would prevent federal prosecutors from exerting what he sees as excessive pressure on companies and executives in fraud investigations. Specter said he hoped the move would put pressure on the US Justice Department to refrain from using tactics he has described [...]
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Roy Belfast Jr. and Charles Taylor Jr., son of former Liberia president Charles Taylor, pleaded not guilty in a US district court in Florida Thursday to charges of committing torture in the first prosecution brought under a federal anti-torture statute . Emmanuel commanded a paramilitary unit in Liberia during [...]
Interim Fiji Prime Minister Dr. Jona Senilagakali admitted Thursday that the military coup carried out in the country earlier this week is "illegal" but defended the takeover as necessary "to clean up the mess of a much bigger illegal activity of the previous government." Fiji military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama appointed Senilagakali and a new [...]
Russia has opened a criminal investigation into the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko , the Russian Prosecutor General's office said Thursday. Litvinenko, who once worked for the Russian Security Federal Bureau, was poisoned in London on November 1, and passed away due to radiation poisoning on November 23. Scotland Yard said Wednesday that [...]
