Californians are reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision to rule on Proposition 8, a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriages after the state granted same-sex couples that right, reported CBS Sacramento. Many same-sex couples were disappointed, the station said, as they were hoping the…
Egypt’s Highest Court Goes on Srike, Postpones Key Ruling
Judges in Egypt’s highest court joined other judges across the country in declaring a strike Sunday, the same day it was supposed to rule on the legality of the Islamist controlled assembly that drafted a new constitution. The Supreme Constitutional Court indefinitely postponed the… … Read More
NYT Undercounts Drone Deaths in Pakistan
The New York Times editorial page (11/30/12) weighs in on the Obama administration's drone policies. What the paper wants is more accountability: The government "must stay within formal guidelines based on the rule of law." That's all well and good–but the paper should do a better job of counting the innocents killed by drone attacks. The Times explains that aspect of the story this way: For eight years, the United States has conducted but never formally acknowledged a program to kill terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban away from the battlefield in Afghanistan. Using drones, the Central Intelligence Agency [...] … Read More
French court to rule on Strauss-Kahn sex party probe
A French court will Wednesday rule on whether to drop pimping charges against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the latest sex crime case against him in France. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers have asked the appeals court in the northern town of Douai to stop a judicial inquiry into claims…
Female Military Members Sue To Serve In Combat
SAN FRANCISCO — Four female service members filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the Pentagon’s ban on women serving in combat, hoping the move will add pressure to drop the policy just as officials are gauging the effect that lifting the prohibition will have on morale.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, is the second one this year over the 1994 rule that bars women from being assigned to ground combat units, which are smaller and considered more dangerous since they are often in battle for longer periods.Read More…
More on Women In The Military
What makes Obama think his drone strike “rule book” will apply to future presidents?
Civil libertarians, much to our collective pain and anguish, have thus far failed to convince majorities of the US population … Read More
Putin signs law regulating Russian NGOs
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has approved a law which will tighten controls on civil rights groups funded from abroad, his press office said on Saturday. The law, which was cleared by the upper house of parliament earlier in July, will force non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaging in “political activity” to register with the justice ministry as “foreign agents” and to file a report to officials every quarter. The law also requires NGOs to submit detailed annual financial reports, which critics say would be a time-consuming and costly burden on organisations with small staffs and meager funding. Opposition groups say Putin is trying to silence groups whose criticism of his human rights record has undercut his credibility and helped fuel seven months of protests against his rule, the biggest since he came to power in 2000. Some NGOs have vowed to ignore or circumvent the law, while its critics note that the vague definition of “political activity” could be applied against a wide range of initiatives and could be used to suppress dissent. But Lyudmila Mikhailovna Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a veteran human rights activist, said her group will refuse foreign funding in order to get around the law, and that she’s even preparing to auction off her collection of china and art to raise money. “We will learn to live on very little money, in order to at least keep our office,” she said on Echo Moskvy radio. The 84-year-old grande dame of Russian human rights work has criticised Putin for enacting the law. “We are not working for any foreign country. We protect our citizens from our own officials and government and I will not register our organisation as agents of foreign countries because that’s not what we are,” she told Al Jazeera earlier this month. Putin, a former KGB spy, has dominated Russia for 12 years as prime minister or president and he won another six-year stint in March. He has alleged that recent protests against him were instigated and funded by the US. Putin last month signed a law vastly increasing fines for taking part in unauthorised demonstrations to a maximum 300,000 rubles ($9,000). Lev Ponomarev, head of For Human Rights, one of Russia’s oldest NGOs, told the Interfax news agency that his group will ignore the regulation and challenge it in court. “We will never be agents and won’t submit to this law. We’re agents of the Russian citizens,” said Ponomarev, adding that his group will continue to accept foreign funding. 421 … Read More
