Canadian lawmakers will extend their current session into the summer to push through the contentious Civil Marriage Act , which would legalize same-sex marriage across Canada. Government Liberals thwarted the plan of opposition Conservatives, who have staunchly opposed the bill, to end the session on a final budget vote next week. Instead, Liberals allied with [...]

Lawyers involved in the huge litigation against Merck over its drug Vioxx said Thursday that federal lawsuits against the drug company could begin in late autumn 2005. The first state trial begins in Texas next month with two more to follow in the late summer and a fourth in New Jersey. Disagreements over the turning [...]

Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington Thursday, visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari called for the trial of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to get under way and be "over and done with", expressing exasperation with the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) constituted to investigate and hear his case. According to Jaafari, "There [...]

A senior Bosnian Serb police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that seven Bosnian Serbs have been arrested in the past two days for involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre . The attorney general is reportedly pushing for a crackdown on the remaining Srebrenica fugitives though the attorney general's office was unwilling for [...]

Ethiopian federal police Friday confirmed the release of 2,665 people arrested during recent election-related protests . The Ethiopian Human Rights Council had estimated over 3,000 arrests were made during demonstrations. According to police, the released prisoners were only minomally involved, but the cases of the others would require further investigation and the remainder would be [...]

Interim Dean of Florida A&M University Law School James Douglas said Thursday that about 10 professors at the law school who have not been paid for the first summer session have threatened to stop teaching if they do not receive their agreed upon salaries. Douglas also said that some at the university felt that the [...]

The director of Iraq's looted National Museum warned a UNESCO meeting of the International Coordinating Committee to Safeguard the Cultural Heritage of Iraq Thursday that the purchase of stolen artifacts from Iraq is funding terrorist activity. "Rich people are buying stolen material . . . Money is going to Iraq and (terrorist groups) are buying [...]

The Wisconsin Assembly voted Thursday to approve one of the country's broadest bans on human cloning in the state where embyonic stem cell research was pioneered and a huge biotechnology infrastructure exists. In a 59-38 vote the Republican-dominated Assembly passed a measure that bans not only cloning to create another human life but also "therapeutic [...]

Marine Forests Society, et al. v. California Coastal Commission, et al., Supreme Court of California, June, 23, 2005 . Excerpt: For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that the current statutory provisions governing the composition of the Coastal Commission do not violate the separation of powers clause of the California Constitution. As we shall see, [...]

The People v. Sorden, Supreme Court of California, June 23, 2005 . Excerpt: We now hold that the willfulness element of the offense may be negated by evidence that an involuntary condition—physical or mental, temporary or permanent—deprived a defendant of actual knowledge of his or her duty to register. Only the most disabling of conditions, [...]