UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released a statement Thursday condemning a currently unidentified extremist group for the detention of 43 peacekeepers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in southern Syria. A further 81 peacekeepers are stranded near Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah, with movement restricted by frequent clashes between Syrian and Islamic State (IS) troops. Concern [...]
A judge for a Travis County Civil Court in Texas ruled Thursday that the Texas Legislature failed to meet its constitutional duty to provide for Texas public schools because the school finance system is structured, operated, and funded so that it cannot provide a constitutionally adequate education for all Texas schoolchildren. Article VII of Texas’s [...]
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeals on Thursday ordered the release of taped phone conversations about corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma . Zuma had applied to prevent the tapes from being released while the opposition party, Democratic Alliance, sought access to them. The case has followed the leader since before he took office in [...]
Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday denied a request by Apple for a permanent injunction barring Samsung Electronics from selling products that infringe on Apple’s patents. The Cupertino based tech company had sought to ban the sale of certain Samsung products that a jury in [...]
The Criminal Court in Bangkok on Thursday dismissed the murder case against former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban for lack of jurisdiction. Abhisit and Suthep are charged with premeditated and attempted murder for ordering the Thai military to use live ammunition to clear Bangkok of anti-government protesters four [...]
The Florida Second District Court of Appeal on Wednesday issued an opinion calling upon the Florida Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. The case involves a same-sex couple that married in Massachusetts in 2010 and subsequently relocated to Florida. The couple separated in 2013, and divorce papers [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Utah on Wednesday struck down portions of the state’s Anti-Bigamy Statute that were challenged by the family of TLC’s reality TV show Sister Wives . The lawsuit was brought in 2011 by the family after their polygamous relationship was threatened by a county prosecutor [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) over the lifting of Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban. NOM attempted to appeal the recent lifting of Oregon’s 2004 ban under the assertion that ending the ban would bring harm to several unnamed parties. However, [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) settled a federal lawsuit (text) on Wednesday, requiring US immigration authorities to ensure that undocumented Mexican immigrants are made aware of their right to a hearing before an immigration judge. The class action lawsuit, filed in June 2013, alleged that immigration authorities in Southern California threatened undocumented Mexican immigrants [...]
Recent violence between Libyan political factions has been alarming and unprecedented in its gravity, according to a statement released Wednesday by the outgoing Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) . Representative Tarek Mitri cited areas of grave concern within the country, including armed battles, air strikes, and mass [...]
