The French National Assembly on Friday approved a bill that would reimburse women for all abortions and make contraceptives available for free to minors. France already fully pays for abortions for minors and low-income women, but this bill would reimburse all women up to € 450 (USD $580) for abortions. It would also pay for [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on Friday that Argentina must pay $1.33 billion to bondholders when it repays its debts stemming from an economic collapse a decade ago. The Second Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that Argentina breached a promise when it prioritized paying holders of its restructured debt [...]
Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit on Friday in Texas court arguing that a rule forbidding any clinic affiliated with abortion providers from receiving public funds violates Texas state law. The lawsuit, filed in Travis County Court , claims that a state law that denies funding to any organization participating in the state’s Women’s Health Program [...]
The Tennessee Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the state’s voter identification law Thursday while upholding the validity of Memphis public library cards as acceptable forms of voter ID. The state had argued that the Memphis library is not an entity of the state as defined in the law as an approved provider of [...]
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was found guilty of tax fraud on Friday and sentenced to four years in prison on charges that his media empire Mediaset purchased television rights for US movies through offshore companies and falsely declared the costs on its taxes. The prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years [...]
International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda expressed concern on Thursday that Kenya’s government had delayed in turning over evidence to the ICC regarding the country’s 2007-08 post-election violence . Bensouda also expressed concern about witness intimidation and the “increasing climate of fear affecting those perceived to be ICC witnesses, their family members, as [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday declined to reconsider its August decision allowing Texas to impose a funding ban on clinics affiliated with abortion providers under the state’s Women’s Health Program . Planned Parenthood had asked the court to reconsider an injunction against the law until its constitutionality is determined [...]
UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Bielefeldt presented a report to the General Assembly Thursday urging all member states to protect freedom of belief as it applies to religious conversion. Bielefeldt’s report documents his analysis of global patterns of abuses in the area of religious conversion , detailing violations in which [...]
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) on Friday adopted the nation’s first mental health law to protect the rights of the mentally ill, according to a report by the country’s state-run news agency. The new law is designed to protect the safety and privacy of individuals with mental illnesses. The law specifically aims to protect the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Thursday unanimously upheld a ban restricting federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) from selling handguns to people under the age of 21. The restrictions were codified in sections of 18 USC § 922 , which passed as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets [...]
