Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty Wednesday to tighten control over the South Ossetia breakaway region. The treaty calls for full integration of the South Ossetia economy and military into Russia’s. The treaty further makes it easier for citizens to gain Russian citizenship and raises salaries for civil servant and state pensions. South Ossetia [...]
More than a dozen former state attorneys general on Tuesday asked the US Supreme Court to rule Oklahoma’s use of the three-drug execution cocktail unconstitutional. The attorneys general argue that this type of execution violates the constitutional rights of three death row inmates scheduled for execution. In an amicus brief organized by the Constitution Project [...]
The Oregon House on Tuesday approved House Bill 2307 , which prohibits health care professionals from providing therapy to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of young people. The lawmakers citde the mental and emotional damage the “conversion therapy” can cause and the doubted success of such practices to support their decision. The Iowa [...]
The former lawyer for the Pakistani doctor who helped the US find Osama bin Laden was shot dead on Tuesday after facing death threats for the representation of his ex-client. Lawyer Samiullah Kahn Afridi was shot while returning to his Peshawar home. Two Pakistan militant groups, Taliban faction Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar (TTP-JA) and Taliban [...]
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria expressed concern Tuesday about atrocities and abuses in Syria by both the Assad regime and anti-government armed groups, advocating for UN Security Council referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity being. In particular, they condemned the [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday released a report documenting the destruction of civilian property by Iraqi security forces, pro-government militias and volunteer fighters after the forces successfully forced Islamic State (IS) fighters to retreat from the town of Amerli and surrounding areas last September. According to HRW, this targeting of civilians marks a violation [...]
Chilean lawmakers are considering a bill introduced on Tuesday to legalize abortions under certain circumstances. Rights groups believe the bill, which allows women to receive an abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if the mother’s life is at risk, the fetus will not survive pregnancy or in cases of sexual assault, has a [...]
The European Commission , the EU’s executive body, on Wednesday released a package of proposed legislation aimed at combating tax deals between individual EU member states and multinational companies. Included in the “Tax Transparency Package” is legislation requiring member states to automatically exchange information regarding their tax rulings to other member states every three months. [...]
A Bangladesh court on Wednesday indicted an Islamist leader and seven students for the 2013 death of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider. The indictments will lead to the trial for Islamist group head Mutifi Jasimuddin Rahmani and the other accused students. The indictments were issued following a police investigation, which claimed that Rhaman incited the [...]
Missouri officials executed death row inmate Cecil Clayton early Wednesday morning after the US Supreme Court and Governor Jay Nixon denied his requested stay of execution. Clayton, 74, was convicted and sentenced to death for shooting a sheriff’s deputy in 1996. Clayton’s attorneys argued that he was incompetent to understand the circumstances of his actions [...]
