The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Monday that Indiana must allow secular humanists to officiate at weddings, despite a state law that bars their participation. The court declared that the law unlawfully discriminates against nonreligious humanists who wish to have their marriage officiated by someone who shares their beliefs. Under the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Monday reversed a lower court ruling prohibiting the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles from issuing specialty license plates featuring the Confederate battle flag. The Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) , an organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of Confederate soldiers, appealed [...]
Texas lawmakers Senator John Cornyn (R) and Representative Henry Cuellar (D) introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday that would change a current border protection law to allow the US government to more easily deport Central American minors that have crossed the US-Mexico border. The bill, referred to as the HUMANE Act , an acronym for Helping Unaccompanied [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Monday against a coalition of five Great Lakes States seeking to compel the Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) to take action to prevent Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan through the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS). [...]
Civil liberties groups on Monday sued the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) known as MI6, alleging that the agency accesses data from undersea cables in violation of the rights to private life and freedom of expression. The case will be heard by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal . The existence of the surveillance program, allegedly named [...]
Citigroup, Inc. on Monday agreed to pay $7 billion to settle a federal inquiry into mortgage-backed securities sold by the bank prior to the country’s financial crisis. The deal, which involves one of the largest cash penalties ever paid to settle such allegations, includes a $4 billion civil penalty to the US Department of Justice [...]
The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters on Monday overturned a May decision that banned former leaders of the National Democratic Party (NDP) from running in the country’s parliamentary elections. An Urgent Matters Court in May accused the now-dissolved NDP of appointing corrupt governments, stating that allowing a political return for the former ruling party would [...]
An Iranian court has sentenced eight Facebook page administrators to jail for terms between eight and 21 years, Iran’s official news agency, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) , reported on Sunday. The defendants were convicted of plotting against national security, spreading propaganda against the ruling system and insulting officials, though the Facebook pages in [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday overturned two out of three convictions of Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman Al Bahlul , the media secretary of Osama Bin Laden . The court vacated Bahlul’s convictions for providing material support for terrorism and solicitation of others to commit war crimes but [...]
An Egyptian appeals court on Friday overturned the one-year jail sentence of previous Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s former prime minister Hisham Qandil. The decision was reported by Qandil’s lawyer to Agence France Presse (AFP) in Cairo. Qandil was initially arrested trying to flee the country after Morsi was overthrown by the military last July. It [...]
