Jun
25
2013
The popular movement in North Carolina led by the state’s NAACP chapter and marked each week with civil disobedience actions known as ‘Moral Monday’ protests swelled to their largest number yesterday, with organizers saying that as many as five thousand people marched outside the North Carolina State Legislative Building in Raleigh. Later, nearly 120 were arrested after refusing orders to disperse by police.
The latest arrests bring the total number to over 600 in the eight …
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Jun
25
2013
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish police on Tuesday detained at least 20 people allegedly involved in violent protests, as the country’s prime minister continued to lash out at protesters — and a BBC journalist — he claimed were part of a conspiracy to harm Turkey.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said police searched some 30 addresses in the capital Ankara and rounded up 20 people with alleged links to ‘‘terror’’ groups and suspected of ‘‘attacking police and …
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Jun
25
2013
(Reuters) – The mysterious Chinese businessman behind a $40 billion plan to build a canal through Nicaragua pledged transparency on Tuesday — but refused to reveal where he attended college.
Wang Jing, 40, who says his initial wealth came from a gold mine investment in Cambodia, is the only public face for a project that on paper would challenge the Panama Canal’s monopoly on transporting oil, ore and containers between Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico ports …
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Jun
25
2013
(Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators will introduce a bill on Tuesday to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replace them with a government reinsurer of mortgage securities that would backstop private capital in a crisis.
The U.S. government seized the mortgage firms in 2008 to rescue them from insolvency, spending a total of $187.5 billion to keep them afloat. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which charge lenders a fee in return for …
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Jun
25
2013
Last month, a 19-year-old Native American high school student at J B Pennington High School in Blountsville, Alabama was told he couldn’t wear an eagle feather if he wanted to graduate. When Sky Walkingstick, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, explained it was a demonstration of his beliefs protected under federal law, he was still told by Assistant Principal Steven Bryson, a former history teacher, and another instructor, William Smitherman, who teaches government, economics and …
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Jun
25
2013
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a lower court order requiring a South Carolina couple to turn over a young girl they had raised since birth to her biological father simply because he was an American Indian.
By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled in favor of Matt and Melanie Capobianco, who had been caring for the girl they named Veronica until a family court ordered them to turn her over to …
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Jun
25
2013
The Supreme Court on Tuesday effectively struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by a 5-to-4 vote, ruling that Congress had not provided adequate justification for subjecting nine states, mostly in the South, to federal oversight.
“In 1965, the states could be divided into two groups: those with a recent history of voting tests and low voter registration and turnout, and those without those characteristics,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote …
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Jun
24
2013
President Obama will deliver an address on climate change at Georgetown University on Tuesday, outlining, according to the White House, his “vision for a comprehensive plan to reduce carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change, and lead global efforts to fight it.”
Obama tipped his hand on the new plan in a video announcement on Saturday, noting that climate change “is a serious challenge, but it’s one uniquely suited to America’s strengths.”
He …
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Jun
24
2013
The Agriculture Department has approved a label for meat and liquid egg products that includes a claim about the absence of genetically engineered products.
It is the first time that the department, which regulates meat and poultry processing, has approved a non-G.M.O. label claim, which attests that meat certified by the Non-GMO Project came from animals that never ate feed containing genetically engineered ingredients like corn, soy and alfalfa.
The U.S.D.A.’s Food Safety Inspection Service “allows …
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Jun
24
2013
When the Supreme Court starts handing down decisions just one hour from now, most Court watchers will be awaiting four high profile cases — the two race cases that will decide the fate of affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act, and the two marriage equality cases. A fifth case, however, could prove just as significant as these much better known cases — and could potentially leave thousands of workers virtually helpless in the face …
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