UN report accuses former oil-for-food chief of taking thousands in bribes News
UN report accuses former oil-for-food chief of taking thousands in bribes

[JURIST] A new report released Monday by a UN panel accused Benon Sevan [UN profile], the former head of the UN Oil-for-Food Program [official website; JURIST news archive], of taking almost $150,000 in bribes. The Third Interim Report [PDF text; press release] by the Independent Inquiry Committee [official website] also urged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to lift Sevan's UN-granted immunity for the "purposes of a criminal investigation". Sevan resigned on Sunday [JURIST report] from an honorary position at the UN despite denying the charges. BBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.