Spanish protesters rallied in Madrid on Saturday in opposition to a law that would relax restrictions on abortions. Protesters adopted the slogan "Every life matters" and former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar spoke in support of the protesters.
Chilean Subsecretary of the Interior Patricio Rosende announced Tuesday that Chile will use a 1984 antiterrorism law to prosecute indigenous Mapuches for attacks allegedly committed in the southern region of Araucania.
An international convention is needed to protect the victims of organ, tissue, and cell (OTC) trafficking, according to a new report [text, PDF; press release] released Tuesday by the Council of Europe (COE) [official website] and the UN. The report calls for a separate OTC convention in addition to the convention against human trafficking, drawing a distinction between OTC trafficking and trafficking in humans for the removal of organs.
Elderly and disabled Americans will see no boost in their Social Security checks next year for the first time since 1975 due to scant inflation, the U.S. government said on Thursday.
Finland has become the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right.
Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon charged two suspected Somali pirates accused of helping take over the Alakrana, a Spanish ship currently under the control of Somali Pirates. The suspects, Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey, were charged with 36 counts of kidnapping as well as armed assault. Neither suspect has admitted to breaking any laws.
Two victims of Bernard Madoff´s Ponzi scheme filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, seeking at least the $2.4 million they lost in the fraud.
A flagship government anti-smoking scheme that would ban Britain’s shops from displaying cigarettes would be “unenforceable”, according to one of the country’s leading QCs.
Poland ratified the European Union (EU) reform pact known as the Lisbon Treaty on Saturday, becoming the 26th country to do so. Before signing the agreement, Polish President Lech Kaczynski pressed confidence that the treaty would be successful. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso expressed approval at the signing ceremony, saying that the treaty´s final ratification will better the EU´s ability to face future challenges and to become "a Europe of freedom and solidarity.
Members of the US Congress have removed an amendment [S AMDT 1399 materials] to the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations bill [HR 2892 materials] that sought to require additional construction of the US-Mexico border fence [JURIST news archive]. The amendment, introduced by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) [official website], had been narrowly passed [roll call vote] by the Senate in July. It called for the completion of 700 miles of reinforced fencing along the border, not to be substituted for "virtual fencing" or low-rise vehicle barriers. Of the $42.78 billion allocated for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $10.1 billion is directed toward Customs and Border Protection [official websites], $800 million of which is for fencing, infrastructure and technology [agreement, PDF] along the Southwest border. Currently, nearly 700 miles of the border are enforced with a combination of fencing, virtual-fencing, patrol and other means. It is estimated that the fence will cost $2.4 billion to complete [report, PDF] and an additional $6.5 billion to maintain it for 20 years.
The European Union has voiced its approval for Microsoft´s latest pledges to curb its anti-competitive practices.
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a stunning decision that comes just eight months into his presidency.
The Australian public wants legislative protections for human rights in their country, according to a government report [materials] released Wednesday by the Human Rights Consultation Committee [official website]. According to the report, Australians believe that their country adequately protects human rights, but that further protections could be extended to a number of vulnerable groups. Among those groups that require extra protections, citizens felt that the elderly and those with mental illness, particularly in areas of the country with significant indigenous populations, were most likely to fall through the cracks of Australia´s human rights systems. The Committee´s recommendation was that Australia adopt a federal human rights act:
The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] was urged Wednesday to adopt measures [hearing materials; recorded video] to address recent Supreme Court decisions interpreting the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act [text]. Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] expressed concern [testimony] that protections put in place by the ADEA would be undermined by the Court´s June decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services [JURIST report], which found that age must be the "but for" cause of dismissal in order to prove discrimination. Leahy said that the decision may allow employers to dismiss older workers "so long as they cloak it with other reasons." Pennsylvania State University law professor Michael Foreman told the committee [testimony, PDF] that the decision:
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating IBM for allegations of antitrust violations stemming from their sales of mainframe computers, according to Wednesday media reports. Competitors allege that IBM is dominating the mainframe computer market by not allowing its operating systems to run on non-IBM mainframes.
The head of the Honduran interim government Roberto Micheletti on Monday convened his council of ministers to repeal the executive decree issued last week that suspended several constitutional rights.
The Canadian Federal Court [official website] released a decision Tuesday ruling [judgment, PDF] that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service [official website] may monitor the communications of Canadian citizens abroad. The case arose from two Canadian nationals who had their communications abroad monitored after a judge issued an emergency warrant permitting the interception. Judge Richard Mosley, who also issued the emergency warrant, wrote:
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday announced a plan for improving immigration detention policies and facilities in response to recent widespread allegations of poor conditions and abuse. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano explained that the emphasis is to move detained illegal immigrants [BBC report] awaiting deportation or processing out of the jails and criminal settings where they currently reside and into residential centers. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the announcement "encouraging," saying that the measures are expected to provide better access to immigration and social services for detainees and also prove less expensive than current housing situations. However, the ACLU also said that the announcement failed to address certain key problems such as providing due process to avoid unnecessary detentions:
Former Costa Rican president Rafael Calderon was convicted Monday on corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Calderon was unanimously convicted by three judges at the Second Judicial Circuit Courts of Goicochea, who found him guilty of embezzling $520,000 during a nine-month period in his 1990 to 1994 term, a crime punishable under article 354 of the Costa Rican Penal Code. Only one person was exonerated in what has been called the Caja-Fischel scandal after the Social Security Fund [official website, in Spanish] from which the money came and the Fischel Corporation, the company involved in the kickbacks. Also convicted for embezzlement were three former public officers including former president of the Social Security Fund Eliseo Vargas Garcia and two officers from the Fischel Corporation.
Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, made concessions to settle two European Union antitrust trust cases by agreeing to give consumers more information about Web browsers and about how competitors’ products work with the company’s Word and Excel programs.
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