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Mexico issues first permits for marijuana under court ruling
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2015/12/14 08:25
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The Mexican government on Friday granted the first permits allowing the cultivation and possession of marijuana for personal use.
The federal medical protection agency said the permits apply only to the four plaintiffs who won a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court last month. The court said growing and consuming marijuana is covered under the right of "free development of personality."
The permits issued Friday won't allow smoking marijuana in the presence of children or anyone who hasn't given consent. The permits also don't allow the sale or distribution of the drug. Ironically, the plaintiffs said that even with the permits in hand, they don't plan to smoke the marijuana permitted.
They said they filed the suit to make a point about prohibitionist policies being wrong, not to get their hands on legal weed. "The objective is to change the policy, not to promote consumption," said Juan Francisco Torres Landa, one of the four plaintiffs. "We are going to set the example; we are not going to consume it."
The court's ruling didn't mean a general legalization for Mexico. But if the court ruled the same way on five similar petitions, it would then establish the precedent to change the law and allow general recreational use.
The government medical protection agency, known as COFEPRIS, said it has received 155 applications to get such permits. But other applicants would have to go through the appeals process, something supporters say would probably take at least a year. |
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Lufthansa cancels 930 flights Wednesday due to strike
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2015/11/13 22:06
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Lufthansa has canceled 930 flights scheduled for Wednesday at three hubs in Germany after efforts failed to halt an ongoing strike by flight attendants.
The cancellations affect 100,000 travelers going to or from Frankfurt, Munich and Duesseldorf.
They were announced even as the airline and the union said late Tuesday they were open to mediation.
Officials for the UFO flight attendants union did not call a halt to the ongoing stoppages at Frankfurt, Munich and Duesseldorf, but indicated they would be open to mediation under certain conditions, the dpa news agency reported. A mediation proposal had been sent by the company.
As things stood, the union was to strike long-haul and local flights Wednesday through Friday at the three airports. The strike action started Friday and took a break Sunday.
Lufthansa has been able to carry out most flights despite extensive cancellations.
A court decision in the German city of Duesseldorf added to uncertainty. The labor court there ordered a temporary halt to the strike in that town, saying the strike's goals were not clearly formulated.
Court spokeswoman Anke Salchow said the decision only applied Tuesday. The court was to hear another request from Lufthansa on Wednesday.
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German court: former SS Auschwitz guard fit for trial
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2015/11/01 08:53
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A German court says a 93-year-old former SS sergeant charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as an Auschwitz death camp guard has been declared fit for trial.
The Detmold state court said Monday a doctor determined that Reinhold H., whose last name wasn't given for privacy reasons, is fit to stand trial so long as sessions are limited to two hours per day.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors now have two weeks to submit responses to the expert opinion. The court will then decide whether to open a trial.
H. is accused of being an accessory to murders at Auschwitz from January 1943 to June 1944. The suspect says he was assigned to a part of the camp not involved in the mass murders.
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Court stops prosecution of white police in black suburb
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2015/07/10 09:23
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The prosecution of five white police supervisors in a predominantly black suburb for failing to stop a car chase that ended with two black people being killed in a 137-shot barrage of police gunfire was put on hold Thursday by a state appeals court.
Attorneys for the supervisors filed a complaint with the Eighth District Court of Appeals on Wednesday arguing that the misdemeanor dereliction of duty charges filed against the supervisors in county court last year have priority over an identical set of charges filed last week in East Cleveland.
An initial appearance in East Cleveland Municipal Court scheduled for Friday has been canceled. A trial for the supervisors in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court is scheduled to begin July 27.
Attorneys for the supervisors have said they believe race is behind county prosecutor Tim McGinty's push to have the case tried in East Cleveland, where the lone judge is black and a jury pool would come from a population that is 93 percent black. In comparison, about 30 percent of Cuyahoga County's residents are black, as are about 53 percent of Cleveland's residents.
Attorney Susan Gragel, who filed the complaint on behalf of the supervisors, said Thursday that she expects the appeals court to rule that the case should remain in county court.
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