(Reuters) – A federal judge has ruled the Obama administration broke the law when it issued oil leases in central California without fully weighing the environmental impact of “fracking,” a setback for companies seeking to exploit the region’s enormous energy resources.

The decision, made public on Monday, effectively bars for the time being any drilling on two tracts of land comprising 2,500 acres leased for oil and gas development in 2011 by the Interior Department’s Bureau …

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The magnitude 6.3 quake struck more than 55 miles southeast of the city of Bushehr at 11.52am GMT at a depth of 6 miles, according to the US Geological Survey.

Offices as far as Qatar and Bahrain were evacuated after the quake, which was followed by several aftershocks, while the shock was also felt in Dubai.

Atomstroyexport, the Russian company that built the Bushehr plant, Iran’s only nuclear power station, said the quake had been felt …

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Just as dead pigs and ducks stopped washing up in rivers in China, another public health threat crops up: Chinese media announced that a strain of bird flu never before seen in humans was found in Shanghai and surrounding provinces, infecting 24 people so far in China and killing seven of them.

For the most part, flu outbreaks like this pop up then fade within weeks. But every once in a while, they become pandemics, spreading …

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GUATEMALA CITY — A former soldier implicated Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina in civil war atrocities on Thursday during the trial of former U.S.-backed military strongman Efrain Rios Montt, proceedings that have heard witnesses recount a litany of horrors.

Hugo Reyes, a soldier who was a mechanic in an engineering brigade in the area where atrocities were carried out, told the court that Perez Molina, then an army major, ordered soldiers to burn and pillage during …

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Four NFL players are considering coming out as gay in one joint announcement, a player claimed on Friday.

The former Baltimore Ravens (and currently free-agent) linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights, said the players were “trying to be organized” so they could come out on the same day, in what he said would be a “monumental” occasion for the NFL. Ayanbadejo said he was helping to lay plans for the announcement …

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They belong to a very small and extremely unusual club that has only 142 members. The factor that unites them is that they have all experienced America’s capital punishment system at first hand, yet lived to tell the tale.

This is the club of death row exonerees. Its members include Kirk Bloodsworth, the first death row inmate to be exonerated by DNA evidence in 1993 and now an anti-death penalty campaigner of national renown.

Then there is …

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The UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has urged the US to close Guantanamo Bay, saying the indefinite detention of many inmates there without charge or trial violates international law.

Ms Pillay said about half of 166 prisoners had been cleared to transfer either home or to third countries.

She also said she was “deeply disappointed” that the US was not honouring its pledge to close the camp.

It opened in 2002 to hold terrorism suspects after the …

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US President Barack Obama is prepared to offer cuts to Americans’ pensions to strike a deficit deal with Republicans, a White House official says.

In return, the Democratic president wants higher taxes on the rich. He will outline his budget plan next Wednesday.

The proposal would cut the deficit by $1.8 trillion (£1.2 trillion) over 10 years, say administration officials.

But Democrats would oppose cuts to pensions, while Republicans have refused to accept tax rises.

Under the deal trailed …

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A federal judge has ruled that the emergency contraception drug Plan B One-Step, a.k.a. the “morning after pill,” must be made available over the counter to everyone. The decision, issued Friday, overturns a rule that required anyone 16 years old and younger to have a prescription in order to get the pill.

In 2011, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s determination that Plan B is safe for all ages, the Department of Health and Human Services …

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Taking a deeper look at current and past films and how they relate to the world today.

Jonathan Kim is an independent film critic who writes and produces film reviews for Uprising and other outlets. He is a former co-producer at Brave New Films.

Read his reviews online at ReThinkReviews.net. Watch his videos at www.youtube.com/user/jsjkim, …

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