US judge orders Sudan to pay almost $8M for USS Cole bombing News
US judge orders Sudan to pay almost $8M for USS Cole bombing

[JURIST] US District Judge Robert G. Doumar of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] ordered the government of Sudan Wednesday to pay $7.96 million in compensation to the families of 17 US Navy personnel killed in the 2000 al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole [Wikipedia backgrounder; US DOD inquiry report; JURIST news archive]. The families had sought $105 million for pain and suffering, but the federal Death on the High Seas Act [text] limits compensation to only economic damages.

In March, Doumar held Sudan liable for the attack a day after the plaintiffs introduced expert testimony [JURIST reports] from four witnesses that al Qaeda could not have accomplished the bombing had Sudan not supported the terrorist organization. AP 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.