An Ecuadorian court on Wednesday ordered Chevron to pay USD $9.51 billion in fines and legal fees. This was a significant reduction from the previous $18 billion judgment. The lawsuit, brought by the Amazon Defense Front, arises out of Chevron’s drilling for oil in Ecuador and the resulting pollution in the Amazon rainforest and surrounding [...]

Texas officials on Tuesday filed a brief with US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in response to a challenge to the state’s new restrictive abortion law . Last week, abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to reinstate a previous injunction blocking HB 2. The disputed restriction [...]

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday elected 14 countries to a three-year term on the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) beginning January 1. The assembly chose Algeria, China, Cuba, France Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Vietnam, Russia and the UK via a secret ballot election. The [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday called on the Turkish government to investigate the bombing of two villages that killed 33 civilians in 1994. A unanimous court issued its preliminary judgment, finding Turkey in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights for the death of 33 civilians, the “extremely inadequate investigation,” [...]

The Hawaii Senate on Tuesday passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage by a vote of 19-4. The Hawaii House of Representatives approved the same-sex marriage bill last week after adding amendments that allow religious organizations to withhold services if the same-sex marriage would be a violation of their beliefs. President Barack Obama praised Hawaii on [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday sentenced Somali pirate Ahmed Muse Salad to life in prison without parole for his involvement in the deaths of four Americans off the coast of Africa. Salad was among the 19 men who boarded and hijacked a yacht, shooting and [...]

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Egypt’s government on Tuesday lifted the country’s state of emergency and evening curfew, which have been in place since August 14. An adviser to Prime Minster Hazem el-Beblawi reported to the BBC that the state of emergency and the curfew were both lifted at 4:00 PM local time. A court ruling prompted the move, and [...]

A Moscow court ruled Tuesday that the Russian government can seize the assets of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin. Charges for theft and money laundering were filed last month against Navalny and his brother. No trial date has been set, but the penalties include up to 10 years imprisonment for theft [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday announced a settlement of the antitrust lawsuit opposing the merger of American Airlines and US Airways . The DOJ filed a proposed final judgment in the US District Court for the District of Columbia , which will allow the airlines to finalize the proposed deal. The proposed [...]