In Friday's environmental law news, today is the 35th celebration of "Earth Day", a day first started by US Senator Gaylord Nelson as a time to reflect on the environment and mankind's relationship to it. The first Earth Day in 1970 was marked with seminars held around the country on air and water pollution, wilderness, [...]

In a rare televised address to the nation , Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin apologized Thursday night for a sponsorship scandal that has shaken his Liberal Party . During his address, Martin acknowledged allegations of money laundering and kickbacks and took full responsiblility for the misuse of public funds. Martin’s comments come one week after [...]

Leading Friday's international brief, Togolese Interior Minister Francois Esso Boko told reporters late Thursday night that he was recommending that what he called the "suicidal electoral process" – the presidential election scheduled for Sunday – be postponed, warning that all signs pointed to it being extremely violent. Esso Boko said he would recommend to the [...]

The BBC is reporting that a London court has sentenced Saajid Badat to 13 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in February to conspiring with "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid to blow up an American Airlines flight.

The UN Commission on Human Rights ended its 61st and possibly last session Friday in the wake of UN Secretary Kofi Annan's announced plans to radically overhaul the 53-member body. Annan and others in the international community have criticized the commission's failure to take definite action on human rights violations throughout the world. Most recently, [...]

The trial of 24 suspected members of an al-Quaida cell in Spain began in Madrid Friday. Three of the suspects allegedly used Spain as a staging ground for the September 11, 2001 attacks against targets in the United States. Spain is now the second European country, after Germany, to try suspects involved in the attacks. [...]

Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Stephen Breyer, and Antonin Scalia gave candid reactions to recent criticisms of the "activist" federal judiciary in a rare joint interview-cum-converation moderated by NBC's Tim Russert at the National Archives Thursday. O'Connor and Breyer agreed that such criticism was "nothing new," pointing out that sometimes the issues before federal courts trigger [...]

The National Center for State Courts has asked Congress to earmark 1-3 percent of new homeland security grants to states for use in improving security at courthouses. The request comes in the wake of recent incidents at several courthouses, including last month's murder of Judge Rowland Barnes in Atlanta . The US Department of Homeland [...]

The lower house of the Spanish Parliament has approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriages, a measure sponsored by Spain's ruling Socialist Party. The bill, passed Thursday, now moves to the Senate , where the Socialists have strong support. Adoption of the bill reflects significant changes in Spain, where 80 percent of the population considers [...]

AP is reporting that the Virginia Supreme Court has affirmed the death penalty for DC sniper John Allen Muhammad. 9:47 AM ET – Review the 138-page opinion . Three justices issued a partial dissent.