Texas lawmakers on Friday passed a bill that penalizes the possession, display and distribution of any image or video captured by an illegal drone, and increases penalties to up to $10,000 if those images or videos are subsequently posted on the internet. In addition, the bill makes it a Class C misdemeanor to use an [...]

Col. Alberto Julio Candiotti, a former Argentinian military officer who was wanted for crimes committed during the country’s 1976-1983 “Dirty War” , was arrested Thursday in Montevideo, Uruguay. Information for the whereabouts of the 68-year-old, who was residing in the city with his wife, was valued at 100,000 pesos (USD $20,000). The former officer was [...]

The Obama administration on Friday urged the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to delay the implementation of a decision that orders the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make the popular “Plan B” emergency contraceptive (levonorgestrel-Teva) available over-the-counter for women as young as 15. In the brief, the government asks that [...]

Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) on Saturday found provisions of the nation’s revised parliament and election law invalid under the Egyptian constitution . In April the Shura Council, Egypt’s upper house of parliament , approved the revisions , which set forth new procedures for lower house elections to be held later this year. The law [...]

The UN Security Council on Friday commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . On May 25, 1993, the UN passed Resolution 827 , which established the ICTY as an “ad hoc measure” for the prosecution of “persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian [...]

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered Friday that Zivko Budimir , president of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, be released from jail immediately. Budmir was arrested in April along with 19 other officials as part of a corruption investigation and crackdown. Budmir, who has been charged with accepting bribes to grant amnesty to numerous convicts, [...]

Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation in places of employment. According to media sources, the bill originally included protections for commercial transactions, housing, governmental services, and public accommodations, but the Senate voted to narrow to bill’s scope to employment last [...]

A group of UN independent experts on Friday urged South Asian countries to strengthen legislation to prevent caste-based discrimination . In South Asia, those members of society who are of low caste are referred to as “Dalits” or “untouchables.” The UN experts noted that Dalits endure “marginalization, social and economic exclusion, segregation in housing, limited [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Friday upheld the conviction and 28-year sentence for former Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. In February 2011 Ciavarella was convicted by a jury in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania of racketeering, mail fraud, money laundering, [...]

African foreign ministers agreed Friday to request that Kenyan leaders accused of inciting violence following the 2007 elections stand trial in their home country rather than before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This follows Tuesday’s report by the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission connecting the Kenyan leaders to the violence. The African [...]