The UK government has announced that driverless cars will be allowed on public roads from January next year. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28551069 It also invited cities to compete to host one of three trials of the tech, which would start at the same time. In addition, ministers ordered a review of the UK’s road regulations to provide appropriate […]

Jesse Ventura, former professional wrestler and governor of Minnesota prevailed in a suit that claimed that he had been defamed in a best-selling book by Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle who was later murdered. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/us/jesse-ventura-chris-kyle-navy-seal-book-lawsuit.html?ref=us&_r=0 Tuesday, a jury sided with Mr. Ventura, finding that he had been defamed, calling for an award of more than […]

The doctor leading Sierra Leone’s fight against the worst Ebola outbreak on record died from the virus on Tuesday, the country’s chief medical officer said. The death of Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, 39, highlights the dangers health workers face in trying to halt the disease’s spread across West Africa. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/world/africa/sierra-leone-leading-doctor-dies-of-ebola.html?ref=world Ebola is believed to have […]

The Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union have issued a sharp rebuke of large-scale surveillance programs carried out by the United States government, saying in a joint report that such practices are hindering journalists. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/business/media/aclu-and-human-rights-watch-say-surveillance-programs-hurt-news-coverage.html?ref=us&_r=0 The report, released Monday, asserts that mass surveillance has harmed journalists’ ability to obtain information about government […]

It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just […]

In another unexpectedly prolonged execution using disputed lethal injection drugs, a condemned Arizona prisoner on Wednesday repeatedly gasped for one hour and 40 minutes, according to witnesses, before dying at an Arizona state prison. At 1:52 p.m. Wednesday, one day after the United States Supreme Court overturned a stay of execution granted by a federal […]

The set of internal rules used by the federal government in compiling terrorism screening watch lists was made public on Wednesday despite Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s assertion that its disclosure would damage national security. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/us/over-government-objections-rules-on-no-fly-list-are-made-public.html?ref=us The procedures for adding names of people deemed to be known or suspected terrorists to various screening lists, […]

As the death toll mounts and passions spike, the Foreign Press Association in Israel condemned on Wednesday what it called “deliberate official and unofficial incitement against journalists” who are reporting on the fighting in Gaza. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/world/middleeast/foreign-correspondents-in-israel-are-targets-of-intimidation.html?ref=world That includes “forcible attempts to prevent journalists and TV crews from carrying out their news assignments,” the association said. […]

Poland broke the European human rights convention in helping the CIA to render two terror suspects, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28460628 The judges said Poland had co-operated with the secret illegal transfers in 2002-2003, allowing two suspects to be interrogated on its territory. It is the first such case concerning a […]

The UN’s top human rights official has condemned Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, saying that war crimes may have been committed.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28437626 Navi Pillay told an emergency debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Israel’s military offensive had not done enough to protect civilians. Israel launched its offensive on 8 […]

The blast from the Israeli strike was so powerful that it threw an iron door clear over several neighboring houses. It came to rest along with a twisted laundry rack still laden on Monday with singed clothes and a child’s slipper. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/world/middleeast/questions-about-tactics-and-targets-as-civilian-toll-climbs-in-israeli-strikes.html?ref=world&_r=0 When the strike leveled a four-story house in the southern Gaza Strip the […]

During a robotics conference last week, ethicists discussed the moral implications of using childlike-robots to help treat paedophiles. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28353238 The theory is that these machines would help provide a non-harmful outlet for an individual’s sexual inclinations as part of a treatment programme. It’s like providing methadone to heroin addicts, the reasoning goes. Ronald Arkin, the […]

A NYC agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct is finally studying more than 1,000 complaints about police officers using chokeholds two days after a man died following a police encounter in which the illegal hold was used. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/nyregion/thousands-police-chokehold-complaints-are-focus-of-new-york-study-after-man-dies-in-staten-island.html?ref=us The study by the Civilian Complaint Review Board follows an announcement on Friday by Police Commissioner […]

Rodney Durham stopped working in 1991, declared bankruptcy and lives on Social Security. Nonetheless, Wells Fargo lent him $15,197 to buy a used Mitsubishi sedan. “I am not sure how I got the loan,” Mr. Durham, age 60, said. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/in-a-subprime-bubble-for-used-cars-unfit-borrowers-pay-sky-high-rates/?ref=us Mr. Durham’s application said that he made $35,000 as a technician at Lourdes Hospital in […]

A new District of Columbia law that reduces the penalty for having up to an ounce of the drug to a $25 ticket. The offense is now a civil infraction, like littering, which carries a fine three times as high. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/us/25-penalties-for-marijuana-go-into-effect-in-the-capital.html?ref=us An ounce can be the equivalent of dozens of marijuana cigarettes. Possession of more […]

The downing of a commercial Boeing 777 in the Ukrainian war zone on Thursday inflamed an already volatile international crisis and was meant to bolster President Obama’s efforts to isolate Russia if the narrative points to complicity by Moscow’s separatist allies. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/europe/tragedy-on-top-of-crisis-may-strengthen-stand-against-russia-in-us-and-europe.html?ref=world&_r=0 Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said bluntly that the aircraft with 298 […]

Nine Ethiopian journalists and bloggers held in detention since April have been charged with terrorism by a court in the capital, Addis Ababa. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28366841 They deny receiving financial aid and instructions from terrorists groups to destabilise the country. New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the government was trying to stifle opposition and media […]

A court in the Netherlands ruled on Wednesday that the Dutch state was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 victims of the Srebrenica massacre, the worst ethnically motivated mass murder in Europe since World War II. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/europe/court-finds-netherlands-responsible-for-srebrenica-deaths.html?ref=world “The state is liable for the loss suffered by relatives of the men who were deported […]

The car crash that killed Gene Erickson caught the attention of federal regulators. Why did the Saturn Ion he was traveling in, along a rural Texas road, suddenly swerve into a tree? Why did the air bags fail? General Motors told federal authorities that it could not provide answers. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/business/documents-show-general-motors-kept-silent-on-fatal-crashes.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0 But only a month earlier, […]