A proposed ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts can move forward after state Attorney General Tom Reilly ruled Wednesday that Article 48 of the state constitution allows voters to overturn court decisions. The ruling to allow the initiative means supporters can move forward in the lengthy process to have the initiative placed on [...]

US Army Sgt. Christopher W. Greatorex was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he beat a detainee at a facility at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan who later died from the injuries. A three-person military jury at Fort Bliss Texas acquitted Greatorex, of the 377th Military Police Company, on charges of abuse, maltreatment and making [...]

Children and pregnant women cannot be included in pesticide testing on humans, according to a proposed rule released Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency . Under the proposed regulations, an independent oversight board would be charged with ensuring that all studies used by the agency were ethically conducted and in accordance with international standards. Review [...]

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the European Parliament Wednesday that it may be necessary for EU member states to accept an erosion of some civil liberties in order to protect their countries from organized crime and terrorism. Addressing a parliamentary session on balancing rights and security, Clarke said that citizens' right to life should [...]

Chile's Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by deposed Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet of a lower court decision in July that stripped him of immunity from prosecution. Pinochet, 89, is accused of involvement in Operation Colombo, in which 119 political opponents were allegedly abducted and killed in 1975. The current case covers 16 [...]

UAL Corporation, the parent company of United Airlines , filed its reorganization plan and disclosure statement in US bankruptcy court Wednesday, before the recently extended November 1 expiration of its exclusive ability to draft such a plan. A $2.5 billion, all-debt loan package from Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric and Deutsche Bank will finance the [...]

Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky officially notified the district election commission Wednesday of his plans to run for the Moscow legislature in the December election, according to his lawyer Anton Drel. The former CEO of Russian oil company Yukos is eligible for the race while he appeals his May conviction and nine year sentence for [...]

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich that attempted to stop the military from moving part of the 183rd Fighter Wing out of the state. The governor had argued that the unit was part of the state militia and had asked the judge to issue a temporary restraining order [...]

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they planned on filing new charges against about a dozen suspects who are allegedly involved in the sale of questionable tax shelters by accounting firm KPMG . Prosecutors discussed the ongoing investigation at the arraignment of nine defendants charged last month for conspiracy to devise and sell fraudulent tax shelters, [...]

Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, passed by the California Assembly . Read the full text of the bill here. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.