A jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday convicted three Somali men of hijacking a boat and killing four Americans in 2011 off the coast of Somalia. The defendants, Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, were found guilty on all 26 counts against [...]
A lawsuit between Apple and Amazon concerning the rights to use the term “app store” was dismissed Tuesday at the request of both companies. The decision to end the case leaves the path open for both companies to use the name freely, and was reached after Apple promised not to sue Amazon for using the [...]
The UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) on Tuesday welcomed the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) progress in the fight against torture. According to the UNJHRO, the DRC has convicted at least five soldiers of the Congolese armed forces, five agents of the Congolese National Police, one agent of the national intelligence service and [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday denied a Guantanamo Bay prisoner’s petition to end the practice of force-feeding hunger strikers. Judge Gladys Kessler said the court lacked jurisdiction, but “It would seem to follow, therefore, that the President of the United States, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority—and [...]
Civil liberties groups filed an amicus curiae brief Monday in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) supporting efforts by Google and Microsoft to publish data concerning how many times the government invoked federal law to request user information for national security purposes. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gives the FISC authority to order tech [...]
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday urged Egyptian authorities to address escalating violence arising after the military’s ouster of president Mohamed Morsi last week. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned recent reports of violence and murder at a mass protest site in Cairo and urged both sides to “do [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the National Security Agency (NSA) illegally surveilled “millions of ordinary Americans” in the wake of 9/11 . In 2008 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a putative class action on behalf [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on Monday issued a temporary restraining order on a Wisconsin law that would place certain restrictions on abortion providers in the state. Section 1 of 2013 Wisconsin Act 37 requires that physicians who provide abortion services have admitting privileges at a hospital [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit in Harrisburg on behalf of 21 Pennsylvania residents who wish to marry their same-sex partner or who are seeking recognition by the state of Pennsylvania of their out-of-state same-sex marriage. The complaint alleges that Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act and refusal to marry [...]
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments Monday by BP alleging that the claims administrator was awarding damages to plaintiffs based on biased revenue data. US District Judge Carl Barbier approved a settlement last year that allows plaintiffs to claim damages to their business by comparing [...]
