A federal judge on Tuesday reinstated a $203 million penalty against Wells Fargo in a class action suit alleging that the bank affirmatively misled customers and then charged excessive overdraft fees. Rather than processing purchases in a chronological order, as is the common practice, the bank processed its customers’ purchases from largest to smallest. The [...]
The UN General Assembly , deeply concerned by the rising death toll in Syria, adopted a resolution Wednesday calling for rapid progress on a political transition while condemning the Syrian government’s use of heavy weapons and the “widespread and systematic” violations of human rights within the region. The resolution also welcomes the 2012 establishment of [...]
Brazil’s National Council of Justice on Tuesday ruled that notaries public cannot refuse to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in Brazil. The decision follows legislation in Argentina and Uruguay, which both legalized same-sex marriage in recent years. The ruling, entered on May 14 and effective May 16, prohibits authorities from refusing to [...]
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) on Wednesday challenged a North Dakota law that places additional requirements on abortion clinics. SB 2305 , passed in March, restricts abortion providers to those doctors recognized by a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. Although the providers at Red River Women’s Clinic sought such recognition, pre-existing hospital [...]
A UN special reporter said Tuesday that the current situation in Eritrea warrants close scrutiny from the international community. Sheila Keetharuth made the statement based on her findings during a 10-day mission to obtain knowledge from refugees in Ethiopia and Djibouti. The total number of refugees in the past year reached 4,000—increasing the total Eritrean [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Tuesday that the mutilation of a Syrian soldier seen in an Internet video should be investigated as a potential war crime. Pillay urged Syrian rebels to stop the “truly atrocious” acts. Although the video cannot be fully authenticated, it appears to show a Syrian rebel [...]
Three UN independent experts on Tuesday urged authorities in Russia to revise a law that is having “obstructive, intimidating and stigmatizing effects” on the country’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-commercial organizations (NCOs) . The law, adopted in November, requires NGOs and NCOs to register as “organizations performing the functions of foreign agents” if they want [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) unfairly scrutinized tax-exemptions for conservative groups. The agency initially singled out groups with applications containing the names “Tea Party” or “Patriots,” but expanded to target groups that promoted Constitutionalism. The practice [...]
The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Tuesday that her office will conduct a preliminary examination into the 2010 Israeli raid on an aid flotilla bound for the blockaded Gaza strip in which nine civilians on a Turkish ship were killed. The examination is in response to authorities from the Union of Comoros, [...]
A court in Bahrain sentenced six individuals to a year in prison on Wednesday for insulting King Hamad via Twitter . Since the nation’s pro-democracy protests in Manama that began in February 2011, activists have used the social media site to report perceived violations. The court found the tweets to be an overuse of the [...]
