Judge Myron Thompson of the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Wednesday set a trial date of May 19 to determine the constitutionality of an Alabama law passed last year requiring doctors who perform abortions to obtain hospital admitting privileges. The Women’s Health and Safety Act was passed last year, but [...]
The Mississippi Legislature on Tuesday passed a bill that bans abortions from being performed beyond 20 weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period, or 18 weeks of pregnancy. The bill, which grants an exception for cases where pregnancy would endanger the life of the mother but not for victims of rape or incest, is very [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all nations on Wednesday to sign the UN Arms Trade Treaty . The treaty will take effect when it receives 50 ratifications. Eighteen member states ratified the treaty on Tuesday in response, bringing the total number of ratifications to 31. The treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly last [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday overturned a ruling from US District Court for the Southern District of Texas that had required the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to provide information about the supplier of lethal injection drugs. Lower court Judge Vanessa Gilmore had issued a temporary injunction halting the [...]
The United Nations confirmed on Thursday that Palestinian officials have delivered letters of accession to 15 international conventions and treaties . Upon signing these letters of accession, President Mahmoud Abbas emphasized Palestine’s effort to continue negotiations with Israel, which resumed in July 2013. Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour , in regard to the letters, stated, [...]
An inquiry by the interim Ukrainian government on Wednesday implicated members of the special Berkut riot police in the deaths of 76 anti-government protesters in Kiev in February. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov presented initial findings before reporters indicating twelve members of the elite police force as snipers and arrested three on suspicion of shooting deaths. [...]
A Turkish official said Thursday that the government has lifted a ban on Twitter following a Constitutional Court ruling Wednesday. The court stated that the ban violated both individual rights as well as the freedom of expression. This decision came a week after an Istanbul court ruled against Turkey’s ban on the website, overturning an [...]
The Center for Reproductive Rights announced Wednesday that it will file a new lawsuit against Texas House Bill 2 , which requires physicians performing “surgical abortions” to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and also required certain compliance protocols relating to the administration of drugs inducing “medication abortions.” The new lawsuit will have two [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing a statute that will prohibit women from having a medication abortion after seven weeks of pregnancy. On Monday, a judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona refused to block the new abortion drug rules, allowing [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on the requirements to allege breach of fiduciary duties over an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). In Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer , the court will determine the scope of the fiduciary duties that the trustees of an ESOP owe to the beneficiaries. As part of the [...]
