WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has determined that a federal law that barred gay marriages was unconstitutional and told government lawyers to stop defending it in court, the U.S.

The case sparked national outrage. Advocacy groups Change.org and Color of Change launched ambitious online campaigns that have already gotten thousands of signatures.

An Ohio mother of two was sentenced to 10 days in jail and placed on three years probation after sending her kids to a school district in which they did not live.

A court in the United Arab Emirates has convicted a Muslim man for having gone a little too far in beating his wife and 23-year-old daughter because the punishment "left marks."

The White House has rejected the nomination of Daniel Alter, a New Yorker would have become the first openly gay man to sit on the federal bench, because of comments he made about the Pledge of Allegiance and Christmas that were considered anti-Christian.

A FEDERAL appeals court on Wednesday granted the Obama administration's emergency request for a stay against a lower court order lifting the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring openly gay service members.

MIAMI (AP) -- A South Florida couple has pleaded guilty after a federal human trafficking investigation.

Last Friday, the Kansas Supreme Court suspended Kansas City attorney Chauncey M. Depew from practicing law for a year for, among other depravity, leaving a note on an administrative assistant's desk that read, "I want to lick your butt."

And there's a whole lot more.

A Wilton Manors man has been accused by federal authorities of taking lewd pictures of four young boys with their genitals exposed in the Dominican Republic.

PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) -- A Tampa Bay-area teen has pleaded no contest to raping an 89-year-old woman at her Pasco County home.

A man has been convicted of strangling his common-law wife after finding she was cheating on him.

But Ramakgale Mokoena claimed in mitigation that he put his hands around Tebogo Brenda Ramafatse's throat to make her let go of his testicles. A row broke out on November 28, when Mokoena visited Ramafatse at the Tshikondeni mine in Venda where she lived and worked, the Pretoria High Court heard.

Pinellas County, Florida - The trial of a Treasure Island man accused of being part of a group that lured girls into prostitution, then raped and beat them, continued on Wednesday.

LARGO — Jury selection began Tuesday morning in the case of Colin Anthony Dyer, a 37-year-old Treasure Island man accused of sexual battery and human trafficking.

A hidden and scary side of the Tampa Bay sex industry is set to unfold in court today, as a Treasure Island man goes on trial, charged with raping a young woman and forcing her into prostitution at a St. Petersburg strip club.

LYNN HAVEN, Fla. (AP) -- A Panhandle deputy charged with sexual battery has been fired from the Bay County Sheriff's Office. Officials announced 27-year-old Benjamin Logue's termination