The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday overturned a district court judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by server and bartender employees alleging they were paid “tipped” wages for performing non-tipped duties in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) . Under the “dual jobs” provision of the FLSA, employers [...]
Amnesty International (AI) launched a new campaign Tuesday called “Egypt: Open Air Prison for Critics,” to raise awareness of the current situation in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi , who came to power after the 2013 coup. In 2013, amid political turmoil, many protests erupted calling for then-president Mohamed Morsi to step down. In [...]
The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced Tuesday that it will grant visas to eligible individuals filing as dependent spouses/partners who seek to immigrate to the city. According to the Immigration Department, the new policy applies to individuals who entered same-sex civil partnerships, same-sex civil unions and same-sex marriages as well as opposite-sex [...]
Judge Amy Totenberg of the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled Monday that Georgia will be permitted to go forward with the use of its electronic voting machines, despite security warnings from voting technology experts. The ruling comes in a 2017 lawsuit filed by Georgia voters and election security organizations who [...]
The Honduras Supreme Court on Monday temporarily suspended the murder trial of eight men accused of killing Honduran environmental rights activist Berta Cáceres. Cáceres was killed inside her home in 2016. There is believed to have been collusion between state security forces and Desarrollos Energeticos SA, the company in charge of a hydroelectric project that [...]
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Monday that Maryland intends to appeal the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny Maryland’s petition for relief for emissions from out-of-state plants contributing to ozone problems in Maryland. Maryland filed a petition in December 2016 asking for injunctive relief under Section 126 of the Clean Air [...]
UN experts on Monday accused Kyrgyzstan of continuous human rights violations for failing to assist victims of abduction, rape and forced marriage. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women conducted a confidential inquiry into “bride kidnapping” after receiving allegations from 14 organizations alleging the Kyrgyzstan has failed to prosecute perpetrators of “bride [...]
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan on Monday urged the South Sudan government to create a hybrid for adjudicating war crimes. Earlier in September the South Sudan government signed the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan recognizing the need for reform. In support of [...]
Ireland enacted the 36th Amendment of the Constitution on Tuesday, repealing the country’s ban on abortions follwoing a May referendum. Specifically, the amendment states that “rovision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.” This repeals the 8th Amendment of the Constitution , which states that “he State acknowledges the right to [...]
People like me, who believe we should have tighter regulation of firearms, like to use the word “reasonable.” We support reasonable gun control measures, steps that would preserve gun rights but keep guns out of the wrong hands and reduce the risk of harm from improper use of firearms. Those who support reasonable gun control must be willing to acknowledge [...]
