A Texas county judge ruled Tuesday that the state’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. The ruling came in the case of an Austin woman who is seeking recognition of her marriage after the death of her same-sex spouse so that she can be entitled to the estate. Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman found that [...]
The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Islamist leader Abdus Subhan to death. Subhan, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) political party, was charged and convicted of of mass killing, looting and arson during during the 1971 War of Liberation against Pakistan. Subhan is the ninth senior leader of his party to [...]
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior initiated a criminal investigation on Tuesday into alleged criminal content posted by the country’s main opposition group, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society . Al-Wefaq regularly publishes content to its website and Twitter account, including pictures of protests against the Sunni majority party. Saturday marked the four-year anniversary of a Shiite uprising in [...]
The Supreme Court of Ohio on Tuesday ruled in a 4-3 decision that local drilling and zoning regulations are preempted by state laws governing oil and gas drilling activities. In 2011 Beck Energy Corporation obtained a permit from the Ohio Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ODNR) in order to drill a well within the [...]
The New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that state laws governing the residency restrictions for sex offenders take precedence over local municipal ordinances. In People v. Diack, the court ruled unanimously that the state’s regulations are sufficient in prohibiting high-level sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of places where children are likely [...]
A Russian appellate court on Tuesday upheld the 3.5 year prison sentences of lead opposition activist Alexei Navalny and his brother, Oleg Navalny. Both brothers were sentenced last December, fined 500,000 rubles (USD $8,500) and ordered to together pay 4.4 million rubles (USD $76,000) in damages. On appeal, prosecutors asked the judge to extend Alexei’s [...]
The beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians by members of the Islamic State (IS) are war crimes, Amnesty International (AI) said Tuesday. The Egyptian Christians were abducted from the Libyan city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December 2014 and January 2015. Video released on Sunday showed members of the self-described Tripoli Province of Islamic [...]
A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday temporarily blocked two key parts of a recent immigration initiative announced by US President Barack Obama that would halt the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Obama announced two programs in November, purportedly under his executive authority as President. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred [...]
The Oregon Senate Committee on Health Care is scheduled to hear testimony on a bill that would limit the option for parents to receive non-medical exemptions from school vaccinations. Sponsored by state Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D-Portland), this bill seeks to amend the current process for claiming non-medical exemptions to school immunizations laid out in [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada on Monday began hearing arguments in a series of five cases challenging human smuggling laws within Canada. Section 117 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act , the law at issue in all five cases, criminalizes the act of knowingly assisting an undocumented individual in entering Canada. In May, the [...]
