The Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report Thursday recommending international legalization of cannabis, marijuana and other drugs. The panel also recommended expanding the variety of treatments available to drug users, as well as making them more available, and investing in programs to discourage children from using drugs, rather than enforcing harsh punishments against [...]
US authorities announced Thursday that they are investigating claims by Google that hundreds of personal Gmail accounts were breached by hackers in China. Google disclosed on Wednesday that hundreds of users, including US government and military officials and political activists, were targets of a “phishing” scam originating in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province. Google [...]
Russia’s Federal Security Service on Thursday charged Rustam Makhmudov with the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya , after his arrest Tuesday. Makhmudov, an assumed assassin on an international most wanted list since 1997 , was charged with violating Article 105, murder; Article 126, abduction; Article 178, extortion; and Article 222, illegal acquisition of firearms, [...]
The Obama administration took a stand Wednesday against a controversial Indiana law that prevents health care providers with abortion services from receiving Medicaid funds. Donald Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a letter to Patricia Casanova of the Indiana Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning in response to a request [...]
Iraqi police forces have been beating and illegally detaining protesters over the past week, according to a report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . Demonstrators are reported to be peacefully protesting, or simply organizing protests, when interrogated and detained. The report details several incidents of protester abuse. Several activists in the capital told [...]
The New York attorney general on Wednesday filed a complaint against the US government for failing to investigate the risks of hydraulic fracturing , or “fracking,” a controversial technique used to release natural shale gas. The complaint seeks to compel a number of federal agencies to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by [...]
The Port Authority or New York and New Jersey , owners and maintainers of the World Trade Center (WTC), argued in an appeal on Wednesday before the New York Court of Appeals that they were not liable for negligence in the 1993 World Trade Center attacks . The Port Authority seeks to overturn the 2008 [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Wednesday heard oral arguments over a challenge to the individual mandate of the health care reform law . The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) is representing plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate which requires that all citizens purchase health insurance. The court divided the [...]
An Iraqi-Canadian civilian on Wednesday appealed his conviction by a US military court. Alaa “Alex” Mohammad Ali , a military contractor who was convicted by a US military court in Iraq in 2008, argued that his conviction was unconstitutional . The case was the first in which a civilian was charged and convicted by the [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLUFL) filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging an executive order that mandates state government agencies provide pre-employment drug screening for all prospective employees and provide for random drug testing of all current agency employees regardless of classification. Governor Rick Scott issued Executive Order 11-58 in March and directed the [...]
