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 [...]
California Governor Jerry Brown was a presented with a bill on Tuesday to ban sterilization of female inmates in California after the California Senate unanimously voted to pass the law. The bill bans any form of sterilization in a correctional facility for the purposes of birth control unless there is a medical necessity and there [...]
The Mexican Attorney General for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) on Monday filed a criminal complaint against copper mining companies Buena Vista del Cobre, SA de CV and Minera Mexico following a massive acid spill on August 6 near the US border with Mexico. The spill has affected drinking water for thousands of people in the region, [...]
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern Tuesday that the prosecution and sentencing of lese-majeste cases by Thailand’s ruling military junta threaten citizens’ rights of free expression. According to the press release, 13 new cases have been opened for investigation under lese-majeste laws, which prohibit speech that is defamatory to [...]
The lawyer representing Anwar Ibrahim , the leader of Malaysia’s strongest governmental opposition group , was charged with sedition on Tuesday because of a written statement he issued acting as Anwar’s legal counsel. N Suredran, was released on bail after being charged with violating Malaysia’s Sedition Act . Suredran, currently representing Anwar in his appeal [...]