Reuters) – Twelve of the 14 judges who have served this year on the most secret court in America are Republicans and half are former prosecutors.

One is a former director of the Illinois State Police. Another helped direct the White House war on drugs. One served as a prosecutor in the Whitewater case involving the Clintons’ real estate investments. Another forced President Bill Clinton to testify during the same scandal.

But judges of the Foreign …

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In a little-known case called American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant, the Supreme Court today issued yet another decision making it easier for big corporations to use their market power to screw over consumers and small businesses. Thursday’s 5-3 decision affirmed the right of big corporations to use mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts to force small businesses to challenge monopolistic practices in private arbitration rather than through class actions in court. The case shows once …

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A panel of federal judges ordered California on Thursday to ease overcrowding in state prisons by reducing the number of inmates by about 10,000 this year, and criticized what they described as foot-dragging in dealing with the matter.

California has been under court orders to reduce the population in its 33-prison system since 2009, when the same three-judge panel ordered it to relieve overcrowding that has caused inadequate medical and mental healthcare.

Earlier …

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HONG KONG — As pollution in Singapore soared to record levels on Thursday, local officials pressed Indonesia to curtail the widespread burning of forests, which they say is causing the stubborn haze enveloping the city-state.

The Pollution Standards Index, a uniform system used by Singapore to measure pollution, hit 371 at 1 p.m., topping the previous record of 226, which was set in 1997. Health officials consider any level above 300 to be hazardous to …

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Six jurors have been picked to decide George Zimmerman’s fate in a Seminole County, Florida court. All six are women; at least four are mothers. Five are white and one is a woman of color (somehow, in a case that’s central to the way we think about racial justice, no one seems to be exactly sure whether she is black or Latina). Four alternate jurors have also been chosen, and can step in if needs …

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Honoring our grandparents, our elders—in these divisive times, at least we hold this value in common, right?

As children, we dutifully sat through long visits or lectures from older relatives, teachers, neighbors or family friends; and then wised up to learn that some of these relationships would prove our most enduring.

It’s enough to make you think that maybe—just maybe—this shared experience would lead to a steadfast commitment from policymakers to ensure that those who cared for …

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Before you read this blog post, navigate to your favorite search engine, type in “Detroit petroleum coke,” and peruse the results for a moment (don’t forget to come back and keep reading).

If you’re new to this issue, you might be able to quickly piece together a story about a “…three-story pile of toxic by-product…” that has helped “…Detroit’s riverfront gain national attention” amidst “growing outrage, and calls for action…” from “worried residents.” You may see …

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Target shoppers in Wilsonville, Oregon found a tragedy in the parking lot as tens of thousands of of bumble bees were found dead and dying on the pavement, along with honey bees and ladybugs. Shoppers notified Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist with the Portland-based Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation, who went to the scene to investigate.

Because the bees were mostly clustered under dozens of European linden trees, the organization believes the cause of the deaths …

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Google has been threatened with criminal proceedings by the information commissioner’s office (ICO) over data secretly collected by its Street View cars in the UK.

The privacy watchdog said it would prosecute the US firm under the contempt of court act if it failed to delete private information it gathered from public Wi-Fi networks.

The ICO has served Google with an enforcement notice ordering it to delete the data within 35 days or face criminal proceedings.

Stephen Eckersley, …

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An undercover police officer posing for years as an environmental activist co-wrote a libellous leaflet that was highly critical of McDonald’s, and which led to the longest civil trial in English history, costing the fast-food chain millions of pounds in fees.

The true identity of one of the authors of the “McLibel leaflet” is Bob Lambert, a police officer who used the alias Bob Robinson in his five years infiltrating the London Greenpeace group, is revealed …

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