Michigan Governor Rick Snyder unveiled a new state budget on Wednesday that would allocate state funds to be used to cover Detroit workers’ pensions, currently the subject of controversy in the city’s bankruptcy proceeding. The plan sets aside $17.5 million annually for 20 years from funds the state received in a settlement with tobacco manufacturers. [...]
Attorneys for the State of Utah seeking to overturn a federal court decision that struck down a state ban on gay marriage filed a brief on Tuesday with the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit . In December a judge for the US District Court for the District of Utah struck down the [...]
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped former mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appeal on Friday to the judge-ordered reform of New York’s stop-and-frisk program. Police Commissioner William Bratton supported de Blasio’s decision to drop the appeal. Bratton believes that the policy has caused distrust between the people of New York and the police and that [...]
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a response letter Thursday declining to define “Natural” in the context of food labeling. The letter was in response to three cases involving allegations of false advertising of food products; more specifically, whether food products containing bioengineered ingredients may be labeled as “Natural,” “All Natural” or “100% [...]
Human Rights Watch claimed Wednesday that the execution-style killing of four Iraqi Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) counter-terrorism forces members is the latest indication of a systematic murder campaign amounting to crimes against humanity. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), a group that was recently disavowed by Al Qaeda , has claimed [...]
The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday entered into agreements with the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to dispose of chemical weapons within the country. The announcement of the agreement came from Russian officials and was also announced on Syrian television and radio stations. It comes only a week after [...]
German patent licensing firm IPCom accused Apple on Wednesday of infringing on a 3G technology patent. Last month, the European Patent Office upheld IPCom’s patent on the technology following challenges from Apple, Bokia, HTC, Ericsson and Vodafone. According to a news release by the Manneheim Regional Court , which is scheduled to hear the case [...]
The Public Interest Advocacy Center (PIAC) , an Australian nonprofit legal advocacy group, released a report on Tuesday detailing possible war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war . The reports findings will be incorporated into an upcoming meeting of the UN Human Rights Council sponsored by [...]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) will pay the US government $614 million and improve company mortgage lending practices under a settlement announced Tuesday for claims it approved thousands of unqualified home mortgage loans for government insurance since 2002 and cost the government millions of dollars when the loans defaulted. As part of the settlement, JPMorgan [...]
The UN international expert on transitional justice Pablo de Greiff on Wednesday, urged Spanish authorities to trust their democracy and “not postpone measures for justice, truth and reparation for the victims of human rights violations” committed during the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and the Franco era. Following his official visit to Spain, de Greiff praised [...]
