The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a statement of interest Friday urging the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to reject a class action settlement in a copyright suit against Google. In its statement, which comes after an investigation into the agreement, the DOJ told Judge Denny Chin that the [...]
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe on Saturday urged the Sri Lankan government to conduct an independent inquiry into allegations of war crimes during the civil war against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) . After a visit to camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) , Pascoe also said that the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday that Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations restricting the political spending of nonprofit groups violates the First Amendment. The suit was brought by pro-choice group EMILY'S List , which challenged recent FEC rules limiting the spending of nonprofits on election-related activities, including advertising [...]
Argentina's Chamber of Deputies approved a bill Thursday that would create new media ownership rules and a new regulatory body to interpret those laws. Argentine President Christina Fernandez De Kirchner said the proposed law, which would limit how many licenses a media company could own as well as its market share, will create a more [...]
A federal judge on Friday delayed the execution of Ohio death row inmate Romell Broom, following several failed attempts at administering a lethal injection on Tuesday. Judge Gregory Frost of the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued the order following claims that the multiple attempts to find a vein during the [...]
Seven former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sent a letter to President Barack Obama Friday urging him to suspend Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into allegations of prisoner abuse by CIA interrogators. The letter, signed by former directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet, John Deutch, R. James Woolsey, William Webster, and James [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) . The suit was filed in March in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) on behalf of a group of [...]
A Spanish judge on Thursday indicted three alleged former Nazi guards for crimes against humanity and genocide. Judge Ismael Moreno issued arrest warrants for US residents Johann Leprich and Anton Tittjung and Austrian resident Josias Kumpf. The three allegedly participated in the torture and disappearance of more than 4,300 Spaniards at the Mauthausen, Sachsenhausen and [...]
The Spanish Council of State unanimously approved on Thursday the proposed law to reform the existing framework that governs abortion in Spain, finding that proposed reforms constitutional. The proposed law would allow women to seek abortions voluntarily until the fourteenth week, and until the twenty-second week if there is risk to the mother's health or [...]
The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 95-58 Thursday in favor of a bill to allow the governor to appoint a temporary replacement for the late Edward Kennedy (D-MA) on the US Senate . The bill would allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint an interim senator to serve until a special election scheduled for January 19. [...]