Hong Kong High Court Judge Michael Hartmann ruled Wednesday that laws prohibiting gay sex are unconstitutional and discriminatory and violate Hong Kong's Basic Law and the Bill of Rights . Under existing law in the former British colony, now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, men under 21 who engage in [...]

The director of Russia's federal penal service has denied reports made on Tuesday that Mikhail Khodorkovsky , the former CEO of oil company Yukos , has gone on a hunger strike to protest the move of his business partner Platon Lebedev to an isolation cell. Khodorkovsky, who is serving a nine year sentence for fraud [...]

Sunni Arabs, Shiites and Kurds began a new round of talks in Iraq Wednesday, seeking to agree on several disputed areas of the draft Iraqi constitution . Many, including US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad , nonetheless believe it's unlikely an agreement will be made before the new Thursday deadline. On Tuesday, Sunnis repeated their complaint that [...]

Leading Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, Northwest Airlines continued service today, the second full business day of strikes by their mechanics' union. In what some are seeing as a serious blow to organized labor , the airline completed 98% of its scheduled flights, though many have been delayed. Northwest's other unions have not showed [...]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is examining whether investors paid researchers to reveal information about ongoing drug studies in order to profit from the results before they were available to the public. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times said it found 26 cases in which medical researchers "leaked confidential and critical details" to brokerage [...]

New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte has determined that there is "an insufficient basis for appeal" against the recent dismissal of trespassing charges against two illegal immigrants brought by state officials. Judge L. Phillips Runyon dismissed the trespassing violations against the immigrants earlier this month and stated that state trespass laws cannot constitutionally be used [...]

Leading Tuesday's states brief, North Carolina lawmakers have selected Democrat June Atkinson as the State Superintendent of Public Schools , resolving the country's last undecided statewide election from 2004. After Atkinson beat Bill Fletcher in the 2004 election, the state Supreme Court ruled that at least 11,000 ballots cast outside of voters' home precincts were [...]

Jailed Russian oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky , announced in a statement Tuesday that he will go on a hunger strike in support of his jailed business partner, Platon Lebedev. Lebedev was placed in an isolation cell after refusing to take his required daily walk. Khodorkovsky believes the Kremlin is attempting to get revenge on him [...]

President Bush urged Sunni Arabs on Tuesday to embrace the proposed Iraqi constitution in an effort to bring peace to a country on the verge of civil war. When asked about a Sunni negotiator's warning that the constitution may lead to a Sunni revolt, Bush replied that "There is more than one Sunni involved in [...]

Negotiations for the return of Saudi Arabian detainees from US custody at Guantanamo Bay have reached "an advanced stage", according to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal speaking at a press conference in Jeddah Tuesday. There are currently 121 Saudis among the 505 detainees remaining at Gitmo. Five Saudi detainees were released earlier this month, [...]