Search Results for: 2015-10-02

The coronavirus pandemic has created a cascade of horrible effects. As of April 10, there have been half a million cases and 18,000 deaths in the United States (1.5 million cases and over 100,000 deaths worldwide). The pandemic has also created widespread economic hardship, with 17 million Americans newly unemployed within the past three weeks. And [...]

Gui Minhai, a Hong Kong-born bookseller who became a Swedish citizen in 1996, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday by China’s Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court for illegally providing information overseas. Minhai originally disappeared in 2015 while in Thailand. A statement by an EU spokesperson released Wednesday morning says, “ rights, including inter [...]

For more than 20 years, a key prosecution witness in Maryland criminal proceedings named Joseph Kopera, a firearms expert for the state crime lab, routinely and blatantly lied about his resume, background, qualifications, and other matters. Recently, the Maryland State Police discovered that he also forged signatures on firearms ballistics reports. His testimony was used [...]

Mali civilians are facing violence and atrocities at the hands of armed groups, according to a report published Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report stated that “iolence in central Mali has been escalating steadily since 2015, when armed Islamist groups largely allied to the militant Islamist group Al Qaeda began moving from northern [...]

The EPA announced on Wednesday that it had finalized a new rule to replace stringent emissions limits imposed under the Obama administration on coal-burning power plants. The new regulation, dubbed the Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE) by EPA chairman Andrew Wheeler, aims to relax pollution standards from the stringent limits established under the Clean Power [...]

Targeted killing campaigns are still accelerating under the Trump administration, with fewer constraints and even less transparency. More precisely, it seems that the Obama-era Presidential Policy Guidance has been relaxed in two very meaningful ways: targets of “kill missions” are being expanded to include more Jihadist “Foot Soldiers” (rather than just identifiable terrorist leaders) and directed drone [...]

Under current leadership, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) seems committed to only grudgingly protecting consumers from unfair and exploitative financial products.  In its strategic plan, former Acting Director Mick Mulvaney explained that the Bureau had “committed to fulfill the Bureau’s statutory responsibilities, but go no further.”  This language aligns with Mulvaney’s earlier change [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Friday upheld a district’s court decision to block the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, from enforcing a ban on public topless nudity for women. Fort Collins city council passed an ordinance in 2015 stating: No female who is ten (10) years of age or older [...]

Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on earth. When inhaled or ingested by humans, mercury can cause severe neurological damage, cardiovascular harm, endocrine disruption, kidney damage and muscle coordination issues. When pregnant women are exposed, their babies can suffer IQ and motor skills impairments that will last their lifetime. Through rain, snow or [...]

Ecuador’s National Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered Ecuador’s former president, Rafael Correa, to stand trial for his alleged role in the 2012 attempted kidnapping of Correa’s political opponent, Fernando Balda. Balda claims that five men attempted to kidnap him in Bogota in 2012 on Correa’s orders and that the kidnapping was discovered and halted by Colombian [...]