A judge for US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled Thursday that the National Day of Prayer is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. Judge Barbara Crabb issued summary judgment in favor of the Freedom from Religion Foundation , which challenged 36 USC § 119 , establishing a day of prayer. The [...]
US President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to expand the rights of patients and non-related visitors in hospitals that receive funding from Medicaid and Medicare . The rules that Obama asked HHS to establish are designed to ensure that hospitals respect the rights of patients' [...]
The Kyrgyzstan Prosecutor General’s Office announced Friday that the son of deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev , Maksim Bakiyev, faces charges of abuse of power and misuse of state credit. Maksim Bakiyev ran Kyrgyzstan's Central Agency for Development, Investment and Innovation and is accused of transferring USD $35 million of a $300 million loan from Russia [...]
A German court ruled Thursday that persons from the former East Germany do not constitute a unique ethnic group for discrimination prevention purposes. The matter arose when an East Berlin woman sued a Stuttgart company after the company rejected her employment application and returned her resume with the term "Ossi," a derogatory term for someone [...]
US District Judge James Selna on Thursday ordered a May 13 pre-trial conference for the consolidated litigation against Toyota Motor Corporation surrounding the company's auto safety failures. The court found that, "ecause this docket involves both personal injury actions and actions for economic loss, the Court believes a somewhat unique structure is required." Toyota will [...]
An independent UN commission has blamed the Pakistani government and police forces for the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in its investigatory report released Thursday. According to the report, the Pakistani federal government "lacked a comprehensive security plan" and failed to provide adequate security for Bhutto by relying on local officials without [...]
Elizabeth Zitrin : "The United States of America, proud of its commitment to fairness and justice, is being left behind on one of the most important international human rights issues of our age. We are way behind the curve. Surpassed in human rights by, most recently, Togo and Burundi. The US has a worse record [...]
Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg on Thursday criticized an agreement reached Wednesday between Germany and Kosovo that would return to Kosovo thousands of refugees who fled to Germany during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War . The agreement calls for Germany to repatriate up to 2,500 refugees per year and ensures that refugees [...]
The Nova Scotian government officially pardoned and issued an apology to Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond in a ceremony Thursday attended by Premier Darrell Dexter and Minister of Justice Landry Ross . Desmond, an African-Canadian woman who died in 1965, was fined $20 and jailed overnight in 1946 on charges that stemmed from her [...]
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was named a suspect Thursday in an investigation into the Holyland bribery scandal that occurred during his time as mayor of Jerusalem. It is expected that law enforcement will interrogate Olmert over the alleged bribery scandal in which top Jerusalem officials are believed to have taken bribes for enabling [...]
