Myers v. Loundoun County Public Schools, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, August 10, 2005 . Excerpt: The district court, applying the three part test of Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), upheld the Recitation Statute, concluding that the statute did not have a religious purpose or effect and did not [...]

The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday upheld a Virginia law requiring daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance in Virginia public schools. Attorneys for plaintiff Edward Myers had argued that the phrase "one nation under God" was tantamount to governmental establishment and endorsement of religion, a violation of the Establishment Clause . The [...]

Cyprus Foreign Minister George Iacovou told reporters Wednesday that he is unaware if former UN Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan is in the country, but if he is, any extradition request from abroad will likely be met with opposition. Several reports indicate that Sevan, a Cyprus national, traveled to Cyprus following his resignation from his honorary [...]

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has denied an appeal request to reinterpret its November 2004 ruling that upheld the conviction of an American tried in Peru on charges she collaborated with the terrorist group Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement . Lawyers for Lori Berenson claimed that her trial failed to meet international standards for fairness, [...]

Leading Wednesday's states brief, the California Supreme Court held today without comment that it will not immediately review a March ruling that declared the state ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. In that ruling, Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer wrote, "It appears that no rational purpose exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners." [...]

US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said that privacy concerns over the new Secure Flight passenger screening program are overstated. Speaking Tuesday with USA Today editors, he observed: The average American gives information up to get a CVS card that is far more in-depth than TSA's going to be looking at… Would [...]

A federal judge set a trial date for early next year in the case of two Albany men accused of money laundering and supporting terrorism. Yassin Aref, 35, is imam at the Masjid as-Salam mosque in Albany and Mohammed Hossain, 50, a mosque founder who owns a restaurant, was freed on bail in August last [...]

The Serb minority in Kosovo Wednesday objected to a self-rule plan proposed by the province's Albanian leaders, asking for more concessions. The Serbs are demanding decentralized power and bigger self-governing areas in what is now a UN protectorate . One Serb leader called the latest plan "improved compared to the original version, but insufficiently compared [...]

In a joint statement issued Wednesday, Unocal and Chevron announced early results from a vote of a majority of Unocal shareholders that favored acceptance of a Chevron offer of $69 per share. The approval of the nearly $18 billion purchase comes after months of negotiations and contentious competition from China National Offshore Oil Company Ltd. [...]

The wife and son of former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet were charged Wednesday as accomplices in a tax fraud case related to accusations that Pinochet hid millions of dollars in overseas accounts, including some in the US . In June, Pinochet was stripped of immunity so that he could face tax evasion charges and [...]