The state that was once known as being "For Lovers" has come one step closer to formally banning same-sex marriage. The Virginia Senate Wednesday overwhemingly approved a bill that would allow voters to endorse a constitutional amendment against it on the upcoming November ballot. Bill sponsor Republican Sen. Stephen D. Newman said he was confident [...]

The Republican majority in the Georgia legislature has pushed through a revised voter ID bill which would require all voters to show either a driver's license, military ID or state-issued identification card with a photo prior to voting. Hailed by Democrats as a regurgitation of the disenfranchising poll tax and an attempt to effectively rig [...]

In a US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on lobbying reform Wednesday, trade group lobbyists questioned the need for the new ethics reform proposal that would place stricter regulations on lobbyists and lawmakers. The new regulations were proposed shortly after Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud, [...]

Recent delays in the Saddam Hussein trial have created a "dysfunctional court" that is incapable of conducting a fair hearing, members of Saddam Hussein's legal team, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark , asserted Wednesday. Clark added that a trial that is seen by Iraqis as unfair would cause "real misery" throughout the country, [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the appeal of a Florida death row inmate who is challenging the lethal injection method that is to be used in his execution. Justice Kennedy granted a last minute temporary stay of execution Tuesday night for Clarence Hill , and the full Court on Wednesday made [...]

The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights , the human rights arm of the African Union (AU) , has cited Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo for rights violations in a unusually-critical report leaked to the press but not yet formally made public. The report coincides with the AU [...]

The US Senate Wednesday began a heated debate over the confirmation of US Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito , but Senate Democrats gave no hint of a potential filibuster to block his nomination. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) opened the floor debate by saying Alito deserves to become a Supreme Court Justice and [...]

A jailed Venezuelan terrorist Wednesday appealed to the European Court of Human Rights , arguing that the eight years he spent in solitary confinement in a French prison was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights . Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, otherwise known as "Carlos the Jackal" for his part in deadly bombings, hostage [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the US government for denying Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan entry into the United States under the ideological exclusion provision of the USA Patriot Act. Ramadan was unable to accept a teaching invitation at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 after his visa [...]

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it will comply with a European Union antitrust ruling by licensing its Windows source code in order to allow competitors to develop products compatible with Windows. In March 2004, the European Commission found Microsoft in violation of EU antitrust laws , and ordered the company to offer a version of Windows [...]