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In The News Migrant Lives

Bihari Limbo: The Urdu-Speaking Minority Chasing A Citizenship Mirage In Bangladesh

The Urdu-speaking minority remains marginalized in Bangladesh, facing poor living conditions and limited access to education and services. Many Biharis feel abandoned by the government’s unkept promises of citizenship.

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Women Worldwide

Why The Giulia Cecchettin Murder Will Live On In Femicide Infamy

Filippo Turetta was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin last November. Everything about this story, which prompted protests across Italy and beyond, is painfully emblematic in how “normal” violence against women is.

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This Happened

This Happened — October 3: O.J. Simpson Found Not Guilty Of Murder

Updated October 3, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. O.J. Simpson’s acquittal in the murder trial of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman on this day in 1995 was a highly publicized and controversial event in American legal history. Who is O.J. Simpson and what were the charges against him? O.J. Simpson, was a former professional football […]

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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

Why It Matters That Israel Faces Justice — Even While Gaza Is Burning

Cicero declared that when weapons speak, the law goes mute. So what happens when the law speaks up even as the weapons keep firing? That’s what happening now at the International Court of Justice at the Hague.

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In The News

Navalny Now: What The Wagner Coup Attempt Means For Putin’s Jailed Enemy No. 1

From the depths of his prison cell, President Putin’s best-known opponent, Alexei Navalny, appears to have a plan for how to turn Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed uprising into new momentum for his cause for democracy and regime change in Moscow.

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Society

How Spain’s “Only Yes Means Yes” Law Has Freed Sexual Assault Convicts From Prison

Spain’s groundbreaking “only yes means yes” law on consent was supposed to crack down on sexual abusers. But early signs say the real-life effect may be just the opposite. Critical voices of its effects keep appearing.

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In The News

Shakira, Miley Cyrus And The Double Standards Of Infidelity

Society judges men and women very differently in situations of adultery and cheating, and in divorce settlements. It just takes some high-profile cases to make that clear.

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Ideas Russia-Ukraine War

Revenge v. Rule Of Law: How You Treat Your Prisoners Of War Says It All

A Ukrainian court has convicted the first Russia soldier of war crimes. Meanwhile, Moscow offers no news on the Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in Mariupol. The very meaning of this war may be contained in the different treatment of POWs.

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In The News

A Mother In Spain Denied Child Custody Because She Lives In Rural Area

A court in Spain usurps custody of the one-year-old boy living with his mother in the “deep” part of the Galicia region, forced to instead live with his father in the southern city of Marbella, which the judge says is “cosmopolitan” with good schools and medical care. Women’s rights groups have taken up the mother’s case.

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Geopolitics Society

Duped By North Korean Propaganda, Japanese Expats Are Suing Kim Jong-un

Kim Jong-Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, has been summoned to appear in a Japanese courthouse. Five people who moved to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) between 1959 and 1984 are seeking 500 million yen (3.8 million euros) in damages from the North Korean government for deceiving them with promises of a prosperous […]

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Weird

A Swiss Thief With A Fondue Fork Tries To Dip Into Till At Funeral Home

Switzerland is famous for its fondue, a national specialty that is eaten by dipping bread into melted cheese, using uniquely shaped long-stemmed forks. Now a 60-year old Swiss man has found a rather unexpected use for his fondue fork, reaching with the length of the utensil and its sharp prongs to steal envelopes containing condolence […]

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In The News

COVID-19 Stirs Prison Policy Around The World

Social distancing, disinfecting common areas and accessing health care: All three key tactics for curbing the spread of coronavirus are particularly complicated inside jails and prisons. While it might seem like an already self-isolating bubble, life inside prisons has changed dramatically since COVID-19 arrived. In an effort to keep healthy, many have lost their rights […]

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Geopolitics

The Latest: Spyware Revelation, Seoul v. Tokyo, Spike Lee Stumbles

Welcome to Monday, where an international probe reveals spyware has been used to target thousands of journalists and activists around the world, South Korea’s president is protesting the Olympics after a diplomatic spat and a Slovenian cyclist wins the Tour de France for the second time in a row. The Initium also looks at how […]

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In The News

Kavanaugh And Supreme Court: No Way Out For U.S. Culture War?

WASHINGTON — When Christine Blasey Ford accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault last month, she did more than open herself up to unwanted scrutiny. She held up a mirror to a country in crisis, revealing its political players and embattled institutions not for what they claimed to be but for what they really are. The painful 20-day passion play that followed — staged in committee rooms, Senate floor debates, hallway protests and millions of private conversations — did little to alter the future makeup of the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed Saturday by the Senate, 50-48, in a […]

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In The News

The Battle For A Constitutional Right To Literacy

Lawyers representing students in several U.S. states are making the case that the right to literacy is the bridge to so many other rights.

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In The News

Nicolas Maduro’s ‘Coup’ On Front Page In Peru

El Comercio Venezuela slid closer toward dictatorship after a Supreme Court ruling Wednesday night gutted the powers of the opposition-led legislature. Peruvian newspaper El Comercio reports that Peru and other Latin American countries have condemned Venezuela’s move toward one-man rule as can be seen on this front page. Peru withdrew its ambassador to Venezuela soon […]

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In The News

A Heartbroken Gaza Father Has One Simple Request For Israel

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s three daughters were killed by an Israeli air strike in 2009. For the past seven years, the Palestinian doctor just wants an apology from Israeli officials.

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In The News

When The World Arrives At Your Border

This is the face of civil disobedience, circa 2017. Cédric Herrou, a 37-year-old farmer from southeastern France, appeared in court yesterday in Nice for having illegally helped undocumented African migrants cross the Italian-French border. “I do it because it has to be done,” Le Monde quotes him as saying. An olive and egg farmer and […]

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In The News

International Justice Denied

Your daily update of the latest news from around the world, brought to you by Worldcrunch. To get it in your inbox each morning, sign up here. Is this the end of the road for the International Criminal Court? Yesterday’s announcement by Russia that it was formally withdrawing its signature from the ICC’s founding Rome […]

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Society

Landlady Forces Rape Victim To Move Out Because She ‘Caused Trouble’

A case in Munich of an outrageously callous landlady prompts the police officer who followed the rape investigation to intervene. But the real estate agent insists the owner is within her rights.

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Geopolitics

Italy Supreme Court: Germany Must Pay Compensation For Nazi Crimes

BERLIN — A historically loaded conflict with potentially serious consequences about compensation for Nazi crimes looms between Germany and Italy. The Italian Supreme Court in Rome has ruled that Nazi victims can sue Germany for compensation in Italian civil courts. The court ruled last week that international law’s principle of “state immunity,” which would normally […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Why Is Colombia Cracking Down On A Chocolate Thief?

Justice is twisted in a country where a man is jailed for stealing candy from a store, while gangsters and corrupt politicians are always able to negotiate prison reductions.

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blog

Pardoned Just As He Was Hanged

BANDAR ABBAS — A “few seconds” after an Iranian man’s hanging began, his victim’s relatives called prison officials to grant a pardon, as Iranian laws allow. According to prison authorities in the south of the country on April 20, the man survived the hanging — which was on an unspecified recent date — and is […]

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blog

Proud And Loud, Rogue Peacock Tortures Marseille Couple

Have you ever heard a peacock’s cry? It kind of sounds like a cross between an angry cat and a hungry baby. Now, imagine that video’s audio on an endless loop – for four years. That’s what a couple in Marseille had to listen to, only interupted by the cry the bird makes when it’s […]

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Society

Colombia Wants To Defend Its Troops Against War Crimes Charges

BOGOTA — As negotiations continue to try to bring a definitive end to Colombia’s decades-long civil war, another thorny issue related to the country’s violent past won’t go away: the fate of soldiers accused of crimes. The government’s proposal for a specific military justice code to handle such cases was recently rejected by the Colombian […]

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Geopolitics

Netherlands Responsible For Three Deaths During Srebrenica Massacre

BBC, AFP Worldcrunch THE HAGUE – The Dutch state has been held responsible by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslim men killed in the infamous 1995 massacre in Srebrenica. The men had been ordered to leave a UN compound run by Dutch peacekeeping forces when Bosnian Serb forces […]

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Geopolitics

Berlusconi, The End Is Near

-Analysis- ROME – Silvio Berlusconi’s sentence to seven years in prison and a life ban from public office signals the end of his political adventures. More generally, it also marks the end of Italy’s so-called “Second Republic”: the political era that began in 1992 of which the ex-prime minister has been the ubiquitous figure, just […]

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Ideas

Why All Of Italy Continues To Pay For Berlusconi’s Legal Troubles

-OpEd- ROME – Italy’s entire political establishment is working together to avoid the collision between addressing the urgent social and economic problems that are engulfing the country, and the personal and judicial destiny of Silvio Berlusconi. Every time there is a political statement, and on the regular talk-show circuit, it is repeated over and over […]

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Society

What’s In A Name? Banned Baby Monikers From Around The World

Worldcrunch WASHINGTON – As the list of 2012’s most popular baby names in the U.S. was unveiled this week, it appeared that King and Messiah were among the fastest growing names for boys, said the AP. Major was another fast-rising name. Last week, however, New Zealand released its annual list of banned baby names and […]

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Eyes on the U.S.

Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro To Appear In Court Today

AP, CNN, REUTERS, WASHINGTON POST (USA) Worldcrunch CLEVELAND – Ariel Castro, 52, the man charged with keeping three women captive for almost a decade will appear in court for the first time on Thursday. Castro is accused of kidnapping Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, between 2002 and 2004. At the […]

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Geopolitics

As Munich Right-Wing Terror Trial Opens, All Eyes On Her

SZ-NEWSBLOG (Germany) Worldcrunch MUNICH – The trial began Monday of National Socialist Underground (NSU) activist Beate Zschäpe, 38, and four other accused extreme right-wing terrorists, with all eyes fixated on the one female defendent. Along with four men, Zschäpe is accused of participation in two bombings and 10 murders, the first of which was committed […]

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Society

The Lucrative Business Driving Congo’s Witchcraft Courts

LEMERA – One woman now lives with her daughter in a densely populated neighborhood of the city of Bukavu, in eastern Congo. Six months ago, she had been sentenced to permanent exile from her native village of Lemera, in the South Kivu province, after a tribal court tried and convicted her of using witchcraft to […]

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Geopolitics

Bail Ruling Allows Pistorius To Travel To Compete Again

The South African paralympian, accused of killing his girlfriend, has no immediate plans to travel abroad, his lawyer says.

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Geopolitics

Meet The Dashing Czech Billionaire Leading The Fight Against Klaus And Corruption

Karel Janecek became a billionaire before 40. Now, as President Vaclav Klaus steps down in a cloud after a decade, Janecek is leading the fight for those who want to clean up Czech politics.

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Geopolitics

Quick Read – Making Sense Of Bradley Manning-Wikileaks Case

AP, CNN, REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES (U.S.), THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch FORT MEADE– Wikileaks whistleblower, Bradley Manning pleaded guilty on Thursday to 10 of the 22 charges he is accused of in what the U.S. government calls the largest leak of classified documents in the nation’s history, writes CNN. There are many moving parts to […]

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Geopolitics

Oscar Pistorius Lays Out Details Of His Defense, Girlfriend Buried

BUSINESS DAY LIVE, MAIL & GUARDIAN, NEWS 24 (South Africa), THE GUARDIAN (UK) REUTERS Worldcrunch PRETORIA – Oscar Pistorius released a statement to a packed courtroom Tuesday denying he murdered his girlfriend, saying he was “desperately trying to protect Reeva” from what he thought was an intruder in his home when he fatally shot her […]

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Geopolitics

Oscar Pistorius Sobs In Court, Charged With Premeditated Murder

BEELD, MAIL & GUARDIAN (Africa), THE GUARDIAN (UK), REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES (US) Worldcrunch PRETORIA – A sobbing Oscar Pistorius appeared in court Friday, as the South African double-amputee Olympic runner was formally charged with the murder of his model girlfriend. Appearing in front of the central magistrate’s court this morning, Pistorius broke down in […]

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Geopolitics

Paralympic Track Icon Oscar Pistorius Charged With Killing Girlfriend

AFP, EYE WITNESS NEWS, NEWS24 (South Africa), REUTERS Worldcrunch PRETORIA– Oscar Pistorius, the South African double amputee who broke barriers for the disabled by competing in the London Olympics, has been charged on suspicion of killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home early Thursday. South African police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale said: […]

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Eyes on the U.S.

Don’t Smoke (Or Urinate) In Public: An Italian Lawyer’s Tips For Visitors To The U.S.

Too many travelers ignore some pretty basic American laws that can seem foreign to them. Here’s how it looks to the Italian go-to lawyer in New York for just such cases.

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blog

Five Men Charged With Horrific Rape, Murder Of Indian Student

THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THE TIMES OF INDIA, ASIAN AGE (India) AFP Worldcrunch NEW DELHI – Eighteen days after the violent gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student set off a worldwide outcry, police filed charges in court against the five men arrested in the case, reported the Indian Express. The young woman, who was brutally […]

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