The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered Wednesday that the two-pill variety of the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B be made immediately available to all individuals regardless of age. A one-pill version will continue to be subject to age restrictions pending appeal. The Obama administration had sought to block a lower [...]
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of 16 Afghan civilians on Wednesday in order to comply with a plea deal and avoid the death penalty. Bales admitted to leaving his post last March in the Kandahar province in order seek out and murder civilians. Bales read the individual charges against him [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court, alleging that Border Patrol and immigration officers are guilty of coercing hundreds, or possibly thousands of Mexican nationals into signing their own deportation documents and forfeiting their right to a fair hearing before an immigration judge. The complaint [...]
The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission on Wednesday lifted the country’s ban against YouTube . The website has been banned since September, after an anti-Islam movie appeared on the site. The movie, titled Innocence of Muslims , is a spoof film that characterizes the Prophet Mohammed as a fool and womanizer. Sunil Kanti Bose, head of [...]
A district court in Ljubljana on Wednesday convicted former Slovenia prime minister Janez Jansa of corruption and sentenced him to two years in prison. The trial began in September 2011 , with Jasna and two others accused of soliciting bribes while signing a defense contract with the Finnish company Patria for a supply of armored [...]
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday issued a limited import ban and a cease-and-desist order against Apple for AT&T models of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G after finding the devices violate a patent held by Samsung Electronics . The ruling states that Apple violated one of Samsung’s [...]
Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday called on the Mexican government to investigate the disappearances of thousands of people and acknowledge the government’s involvement in the disappearances. AI’s report said 26,121 people were reported disappeared or missing between December 2006 and December 2012, but 40 percent of the cases were not investigated. Further, AI reported there [...]
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday urged the Turkish government to ensure the right of its citizens to assemble freely and in a peaceful manner. The OHCHR is responding to days of violent clashes between police and protestors. The protests began on Friday in Istanbul, before spreading elsewhere [...]
Burundi lawmakers passed a media law on Monday that restricts journalistic freedom by limiting topics that can be reported on and reducing the protection afforded to sources. The bill prohibits stories that could affect Burundi’s “national unity; public order and security; morality and good conduct; honor and human dignity; national sovereignty; the privacy of individuals; [...]
There is a racial bias in marijuana possession arrest rates press release], with black people 3.7 times more likely to be arrested than white people, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) . The report is the first of its kind and concludes that the war on marijuana is [...]
