A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York overturned Monday a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to limit the over-the-counter (OTC) availability of the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill to women over the age of 18. In 2006, the FDA approved the OTC sale of the Plan [...]
A Dutch court Monday convicted a former Rwandan Hutu for the 1994 killing of two Tutsi mothers and at least four of their children. Joseph Mpambara , who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the killings, was allegedly a member of the Interahamwe , an extremist Hutu militia that was responsible for the [...]
The Singapore Parliament amended the Films Act Monday to allow for the broadcast of certain types of previously banned films featuring politicians or political parties. The amendment will allow political events to be recorded live and will permit documentaries and biographies of political figures as long as they are factual and objective. Politicians running for [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Yeager v. United States , in which the Court will consider whether a criminal defendant can face new prosecution for counts on which a jury did not reach a verdict but that are related to other counts of which the defendant has been acquitted. Petitioner F. [...]
Advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR) Monday criticized the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for allegedly violating its own code of ethics and general principles of human rights by impeding the treatment those needing medical care during Israel's recent Gaza offensive . In a new report the group accused the IDF of preventing the sick and wounded [...]
The White House will soon make publicly available three internal memos from the Bush administration detailing aggressive interrogation techniques used against alleged top al Qaeda operatives, Newsweek reported Saturday. These so-called "torture memos" reportedly legally justify a number of interrogation techniques that some say amount to torture. The White House has decided to release the [...]
The trial of the only captured gunman in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks , Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab , began on Monday. Kasab appeared before specially appointed judge M.L. Tahiliyani at the Bombay High Court via video conferencing from prison. Kasab confirmed during questioning from Tahiliyani that he is from Faridkot in the Punjab [...]
US President Barack Obama reiterated his position that US policies governing the detention and interrogation of Guantanamo Bay detainees should comport with due process and international law requirements in a Sunday interview with 60 Minutes. Obama said that polices of the former Bush administration, which gave less deference to these norms, did not effectively help the US bring [...]
The peace process in Nepal could be hampered by "impunity for human rights abuses" , UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Sunday. At a Kathmandu news conference concluding her five-day visit to Nepal, Pillay cited abuses including the failure of Nepal's commissions on disappearances and truth and reconciliation to ensure justice for [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Friday upheld as procedural three rules promulgated by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that significantly alter the patent application process, overturning a fourth rule. The four rules, which would have retroactively limited the number of claims that can be included in a patent [...]
