Indonesia’s highest court, the Indonesian Constitutional Court, ruled on Thursday that results from last month’s democratic presidential election naming Joko Widodo as the country’s president elect will stand. The court ruled unanimously to uphold Widodo’s victory by a 6 percent margin over Prabowo Subianto, who claimed widespread cheating and voter irregularities occurred in the election. [...]
A North Carolina judge ruled Thursday that North Carolina’s school voucher program, known as Opportunity Scholarships is unconstitutional. Judge Robert Hobgood of the Wake County Superior Court specifically ruled that the program violates article 1 section 15 and article 9 section 2(1) of the North Carolina constitution , ordering a permanent injunction against the Opportunity [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America (BOA) to settle claims that it sold precarious mortgage-backed securities to investors. Of the $16.65 billion, $9.65 billion will be split among federal and state entities while the remaining $7 billion will be paid to consumers harmed by [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday ordered a deadline of October 1 for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide a list of documents to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform relating to the failed law enforcement program Operation Fast and Furious . The deadline [...]
Australian citizen David Hicks filed a motion to dismiss his conviction in the US Court of Military Commission Review on Wednesday after pleading guilty in 2007 to providing material support to terrorism. Hicks was captured in Afghanistan by northern alliance forces shortly after September 11, 2011, and then sold to the US military and brought [...]
Texas Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to two felony charges for abuse of power . The jury charged Perry with abusing his power to intimidate former District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to step down from her position in response to her pleading guilty to a drinking and driving charge. Perry threatened to veto [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) released separate statements Wednesday condemning the execution of US journalist James Foley by the Islamic State (IS) , formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, as a war crime. Foley was a freelance journalist conducting war correspondence [...]
The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) endorsed a new law to better combat evolving terrorist threats, state media reported Wednesday. The law, a revision of the country’s nearly 10-year-old counter-terrorism law, would introduce new security measures to counter such crimes as attacks on the royal family, the joining of a terrorist force and [...]
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday put a hold on same-sex marriage in Virginia as it takes time to decide whether same-sex couples should be allowed to wed nationwide. The hold, which is the result of the court granting a stay application filed on behalf of opponents of same-sex marriage, means that the July 28 [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ruled Tuesday that Indiana must recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state. The lawsuit was filed by one same-sex couple and one woman who sought a protective order against her wife; all plaintiffs were married outside of Indiana. The court considered the [...]
