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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Bhopal: The extradition request of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson, main accused in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, is still under examination as no decision has been taken by the US’ Department of Justice in this regard, the CBI said in its status report filed with a local court. The status report was submitted in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) following a petition filed by the organisations working for the cause of …

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Insouciant New Yorkers—here is another pending disaster to shrug off with characteristic brio! There is a huge, ongoing gas leak beneath your very feet. A team of natural gas experts recently commissioned to survey the New York system has found vastly elevated levels of methane in locations all over Manhattan, a clear indication that Con Ed’s 4,320-mile network of pipes, dating back to the 1800s, is corroded, full of holes, and spewing methane into the …

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Environmental Resources Management (ERM), the State Department consulting firm that claims TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline proposal is safe and sound, previously provided a similarly rosy approval for the expansion of a Peruvian natural gas project that has since racked up a disastrous track record.

On March 1, the U.S. State Department declared KXL’s proposed northern half environmentally safe and sound in its draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), part of TransCanada’s Presidential Permit …

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The Alabama Legislature late Tuesday adopted stringent new regulations for abortion clinics that supporters called a step to protect women but that others called medically unnecessary and a disguised effort to force the closing of the state’s five abortion clinics.

The bill, like measures passed last year in Mississippi and Tennessee and last month in North Dakota, would require that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Several of Alabama’s clinics rely on …

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In a rare case of a cultural heritage claim arising from the sale of American artifacts abroad, the Hopi Indians of Arizona have asked federal officials to help stop a high-price auction of 70 sacred masks in Paris next week.

The tribe is receiving advice from the State and Interior Departments, but each agency says its ability to intervene is limited.

In many ways, the Hopi case illustrates a paradox in the way artifacts are repatriated …

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Britain on Thursday urged Saudi Arabia not to carry out the “grotesque” punishment of paralysis for a man whose alleged crime took place when he was just 14 years old.

Ali al-Khawahir, 24, has reportedly been sentenced to “Qisas” (retribution) for allegedly paralysing a friend when he stabbed him in the back 10 years ago.

He could be paralysed from the waist down if he fails to pay compensation of one million riyals ($270,000), rights group Amnesty …

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