The UK High Court Tuesday referred a steelworkers' case against the government over lost pensions to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The former workers at Allied Steel and Wire claim the government should have protected their pensions when the company went bankrupt in 2002. The union, Community, has claimed that European directive would [...]

AP is reporting that Attorney General John Ashcroft has resigned from the Bush cabinet, along with Commerce Secretary Don Evans. Ashcroft's resignation had been expected by some observers, albeit perhaps not until January. Possible successors include Senator Orrin Hatch, currently chairman of the Senate Juidiciary Committee, and Bill Pryor, the former Alabama Attorney General controversially [...]

On the last day it could file an appeal, the US Department of Justice has asked the US Supreme Court to block the Oregon Death With Dignity Act which allows doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly. The appeal has been expected since May, when the US Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled [...]

Belgium's highest court – Hof van Cassatie in Dutch/Flemish, Cour de cassation in French (official website here) – ruled Tuesday that the Flemish far-right Vlaams Blok party is racist. The ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, in effect shuts down the party as the Blok will lose access to state funding and access [...]

The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has thrown out a deportation order against a Syrian family which claimed its father would be tortured if returned to Syria. The family, which has lived in the Seattle area for over 10 years, overstayed their visa and sought asylum. A three-judge panel unanimously ruled [...]

Gay-rights supporters in Georgia have filed a lawsuit over the ban on same-sex marriage voted into the Georgia constitution in last Tuesday's election. The constitutional amendment at issue, which only asked if voters wanted to define marriage as between a man and a woman, not whether to ban civil unions, passed by an almost 3-to-1 [...]

The Sudanese government and Darfur rebels have reached an agreement in principle which will stop hostilities and will guarantee aid groups' access to 1.6 million civilians uprooted by war in the troubled western Sudan region of Darfur. The government has agreed to renounce hostile military flights over Darfur which rebels and African Union mediators demanded [...]

New York Judge Faviola Soto has ruled that New York City must enforce a law that requires companies which do business with the city to give the same benefits to same-sex couples that they give to spouses. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had vetoed the Equal Benefits Law saying it would limit its ability to choose bidders [...]

Iranian judiciary officials announced Tuesday that a group of pro-reform journalists will stand trial next week on charges of spreading propaganda against the Islamic government. The journalists, who wrote for Internet-based news organizations or maintained web logs, have all been arrested since September. Human rights groups, as well as some reformists in the Iranian government, [...]

In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC is considering bringing civil charges against two former executives of Lucent Technologies Inc. and a third unidentified person over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by allegedly participating in a bribery scheme involving Saudi Arabian officials. AP has more. In other news, Bank of New [...]