The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday held a hearing to reconsider California's request to regulate automobile greenhouse gases . Chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board Mary Nichols was joined by environmental groups and other state officials at the hearing to encourage the EPA to reverse its prior decision denying California's request. Thirteen states [...]
The Sri Lankan government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should agree on an evacuation plan for civilians caught in hostilities between the groups in the country's Vanni region, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) Wednesday. HRW said that approximately 150,000 civilians are caught in the area, and that more than 2,000 have been killed in the [...]
The California Supreme Court on Thursday heard oral arguments in three cases challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 , the ballot measure passed in November that banned same-sex marriage in the state. Equality California challenged the validity of the proposition, arguing that it went against the state's constitution , by stripping an entire class of people [...]
A federal judge at the US District Court for the District of New Jersey on Thursday upheld the guilty verdicts reached by a jury against five men convicted of plotting to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix . The five men, Serdar Tatar, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, and Shain Duka, were acquitted [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that Russia is liable for the death of an ethnic Chechen at the hands of Russian forces in 2000, finding Russia in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights . The judgment orders the Russian government to pay damages of nearly €37,000 to the victim's [...]
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday scoffed at the warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this week. Speaking to a crowd of thousands in Khartoum, Bashir said the warrant was an effort by Western countries to reassert colonial power over the country, and criticized the ICC for failing to [...]
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Court will seek INTERPOL arrest warrants for more than 100 Israelis on war crimes charges stemming from the conflict in Gaza , prosecutors said Thursday. Iran announced in December that it would establish a court to try Gaza war crimes suspects in absentia. On Monday, a report from Iranian state broadcaster Press [...]
Bill Marler : "China's recently enacted "Food Safety Law" is, at least on paper, a significant leap forward in terms of proactive food safety measures designed to prevent crises before they happen. Provisions contained in the Law, such as creating a system to recall problem products, nationwide standards for allowable additives, and creating a schedule [...]
Afghanistan's human rights progress has been thwarted by armed conflict, censorship, abuse of power, and violence against women, according to a report delivered Thursday to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay . The report says that addressing these problems requires addressing poverty, and that the Afghan [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Connecticut on Thursday reversed a former Navy signalman's conviction for material support of terrorism. Judge Mark Kravitz set aside the conviction of Hassan Abu-Jihaad, finding that the facts of the case did not support the jury's determination that Abu-Jihaad had provided either "physical assets" [...]
