The US House of Representatives voted 229-186 Friday to approve a defense spending bill containing an amendment to repeal the military's controversial "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy . The amendment , added Thursday on a vote of 234-194 , would prevent the repeal from taking effect until the completion of a review to determine what [...]

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The Paris Court of Appeals on Friday denied a request by former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to be released from jail while awaiting his trial next month. Noriega claimed that he is too well-known to be a flight risk and that because of his partial paralysis and poor health, he is not receiving adequate care [...]

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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday upheld Arizona laws barring former felons from voting until the completion of probation and the payment of outstanding fines. The Arizona Constitution prohibits those convicted of felonies from voting, and state statute sets out the requirements of re-enfranchisement. The plaintiffs in the case brought [...]

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Australian Environmental Protection Minister Peter Garrett announced Friday that the Australian government will file suit against Japan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking an injunction against "scientific whaling" in the Southern Ocean. Australia claims that it has exhausted all possible resolutions available through the International Whaling Commission (IWC) , an organization set up [...]

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JURIST Guest Columnist Ben Bratman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law says that while Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul claims he opposes repealing the foundational Civil Rights Act of 1964, his controversial comments on race discrimination leave one wondering whether he might support curtailing for private business the protections against race-based employment discrimination [...]

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US President Barack Obama held a press conference Thursday to announce new regulations to mitigate future oil spill disasters and the current plan of action for resolving the crisis created by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The government will be suspending several offshore drilling activities including exploration of platform [...]

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