Three Afghan schools have now been affected by alleged gas poisoning targeting schoolgirls. Nearly 100 girls were hospitalized in the most recent incident Tuesday and 60 students were hospitalized after a separate attack Monday, according to the Associated Press. In each incident, students have become ill soon after reporting strong odors. It is unclear if […]
Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who was awaiting an appeal of a baseless espionage conviction, was released from prison today. According to the Washington Post, Iranian authorities have reduced Saberi’s sentence from 8 years to a 2-year suspended sentence. This means that if she commits a crime in the next 5 years, the 2-year sentence […]
Spain announced plans to offer emergency contraception over-the-counter today with no age restrictions. Spain’s Health Minister, Trinidad Jimenez, said “It is an emergency method of contraception, not to be used except in emergencies….We don’t want it to become another means of contraception,” according to the Agence France Presse. Emergency contraception is effective up to five […]
Hamad Al-Razine, a Saudi Arabian Judge, made statements indicating that men can hit their wives as punishment for overspending during a recent seminar on domestic violence. According to the Arab News, his comments caused immediate outrage from those attending the seminar. Attendees included Princess Adila bint Abdullah who is Saudi Arabia’s deputy chairperson of the […]
Johanna Justin-Jinich, a student at Wesleyan University, was murdered Wednesday while working at a bookstore near campus. The alleged gunman in her murder, Stephen Morgan, turned himself in to police last night, according to the Hartford Courant. She reportedly met Morgan at a New York University summer program in 2007, during which she filed a […]
President Obama released a proposed fiscal year 2010 budget yesterday that includes provisions that would greatly reduce funding for abstinence only programs and would provide funding for comprehensive sexual education programs. According to the proposed budget (see PDF), “The 2010 Budget proposes a new Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative to support community-based and faith-based efforts to […]
Mississippi US District Judge Tom Lee applied the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 to a Jackson State University tenure discrimination case late in April. The case is the first known application of the Act in Mississippi. Though the judge has dismissed several of the suit’s claims, the application of Ledbetter prevents the case […]
Governor John Baldacci signed a bill yesterday that legalizes same sex marriage in Maine. The state Senate voted 21 to 13 in favor of the bill in a final vote yesterday. The state House voted 89 to 58 earlier this week in favor of the bill. Baldacci told reporters “In the past, I opposed gay […]
Iranian-American Journalist Roxana Saberi, who continues to be imprisoned in Iran, ended a hunger strike Monday that she had initiated two weeks ago. Saberi is in the process of appealing an espionage conviction and her appeal will be heard next week. Her father told the New York Times that she decided to end the strike […]
The Washington, DC Council voted in a 12 to 1 vote yesterday to recognize same sex marriages performed in other states. The council voted unanimously for the measure in a preliminary vote in April. Mayor Adrian Fenty is expected to sign the measure. Former DC Mayor and Councilmember Marion Barry, who supports same sex domestic […]
The Maine state House voted yesterday in favor of a bill that would allow same sex couples to marry in the state in a 89 to 58 vote. The state Senate voted in favor of the bill last week in a 20 to 15 vote. The Boston Globe reported that the bill will be voted […]
As Afghanistan approaches their August presidential election, the potential for voter fraud that infringes on women’s rights is gaining visibility. Women have been registering to vote in suspiciously high levels in regions of the country where women rarely travel. In a press conference, Dr. Sima Samar, chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission explained […]
Delara Darabi, a 23-year-old Iranian woman convicted of a murder that occurred when she was 17, was unexpectedly hanged last Friday at Rasht Central Prison. Darabi called her parents early Friday saying that she could see a hangman’s noose from her cell and pleaded for them to save her. According to the BBC, a prison […]
The California Supreme Court ruled last week that they will not hear an appeal in a case where a private Lutheran high school in the state expelled two students in 2005 based on suspicions that the students were lesbians. The 4th District Court of Appeals ruled in January that the school legally expelled the students. […]
Marilyn French, a feminist author best known for her novel, “The Women’s Room,” died over the weekend in New York. According to the Telegraph UK, French once said “My goal in life is to change the entire social and economic structure of Western civilization, to make it a feminist world.” Gloria Steinem described the novel […]
Britain appointed Carol Ann Duffy as the nation’s poet laureate Friday and is the first woman and openly gay person to serve in the post. The position is nearly 350 years old and has been held by William Wordsworth, John Masefield, and Ted Hughes, among others. Duffy will serve a 10 year term. Duffy is […]
The Missouri state House approved an amendment to a licensing bill this week that could restrict access to Emergency Contraception (EC), also known as Plan B, in the state. The amendment, adopted in a 115 to 43 vote, would allow pharmacies to choose whether or not to stock EC, according to the Associated Press. The […]
The Maine state Senate voted yesterday in favor of a bill that would allow same sex couples to marry in the state in a 20 to 15 vote. The Senate defeated a proposed amendment to the bill requiring a referendum vote by Maine’s voters, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The Joint Committee on Judiciary […]
An eight-year-old Saudi Arabian girl has divorced her 47 year-old husband in an arrangement made out of court. Saudi Arabian judge Sheikh Habib Al-Habib twice refused to annul the girl’s arranged marriage on the condition that the marriage not be consummated until she reached puberty. After the divorce agreement was made, a new judge formally […]
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed in the US House yesterday on a 249 to 175 bipartisan vote. The bill expands federal hate crime laws to include crimes where the victims were targeted on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability. It also would eliminate a requirement that the […]
