Tunisia’s new Anti-terror Law

The Tunisian parliament has adopted a new “anti-terror” law aimed at beefing up authorities’ powers following recent deadly attacks claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.

Following three days of debate, the law was adopted late on Friday night, with 172 members of parliament voting in favour and ten abstentions, according to Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the capital Tunis.

The new laws impose the death penalty as a possible sentence for a range of “terror” offences and will allow authorities to detain terror suspects for up to 15 days without access to a lawyer, our correspondent reported.

The president of the parliamentary assembly, Mohamed Ennaceur, called the passing of the law a “historic” moment and said it would “reassure” the nation’s citizens.

The new legislation comes after a gunman massacred 38 tourists on a Tunisian beach in an attack in Sousse claimed by ISIL on June 26.

Scott Walker signs controversial abortion bill

Wisconsin Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker on Monday signed a controversial bill into law that bans an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother’s life is in danger. The law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature earlier this month, does not provide any exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Walker, who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination last Monday, said that the law was necessary to protect the fetus from pain. “At five months, that’s the time when that unborn child can feel pain,” Walker reportedly said. “When an unborn child can feel pain, we should be protecting that child.”

Although supporters of the legislation argue that a fetus beyond the 20-week stage can feel pain, and over a dozen U.S. states currently have similar laws, the dominant view within the medical community is that such an assertion is, at best, unproven.

Rwanda’s MP supports change to constitutional Presidential term limits

BBC Reports

Parliamentarians in Rwanda have voted to support a change to the constitution that would allow President Paul Kagame to stand for a third term in 2017.

More than 3.7 million Rwandans signed a petition asking parliament to abandon two-term presidential limit – a change that will now be put to a referendum.

Mr Kagame has always said it is up to the Rwandan people to decide.

Rights groups have accused the Rwandan authorities of silencing the opposition and stifling the media.

Thailand: Reporters face defamation charges

Two journalists are on trial in the southern Thai island of Phuket for allegedly defaming the Thai navy.

Their charges stem from a July 2013 online article which included a paragraph, originally published by Reuters, on human trafficking.

Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian of website Phuketwan, who pleaded not guilty, face up to seven years in jail.

Reuters quoted an unnamed smuggler that Thai naval forces made money from turning a blind eye to trafficking.

Reuters has since won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the Rohingya which included that particular article. The wire agency does not face any charges.

Officials arrested

The trial opened with a navy captain testifying he filed the defamation case on behalf of the navy, a lawyer representing the journalists told AFP news agency.

“He also confirmed that the Phuketwan quotes were lifted from [the] Reuters article,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.

The BBC’s Jonah Fisher says that despite its small size, Phuketwan has a well-earned reputation for reporting on the smuggling and abuse of Rohingya, who come from Myanmar (also known as Burma).

Imperatives of reforming the Land Use Act – Olubunmi Aboderin

As state governors desperately look for ways to boost their internally generated revenue base, here’s a radical idea for them: Use whatever influence you have at the federal level to push for the removal of the Land Use Act from the constitution, then proactively support those working on getting that piece of legislation reformed, and allow their recommendations to be effectively implemented in your respective states. With the current system, it is estimated that less than five per cent of housing units have formal title registration. Reforming the land management system will open up the possibility of bringing the remaining 95 per cent of existing housing into formal title registration.

There is a shortage of affordable housing in Nigeria. Some estimates say we need 14 to 17 million more units than what we currently have. Others say the figure is closer to 40 million. Either way, reforming the land management system will release the choke-hold on private sector urban housing developers who have the ingenuity and the energy to tackle the multimillion housing deficit, which the states’ housing corporations, the states’ ministries of housing and their federal counterparts, are trying valiantly to satiate. Think of what the states would gain directly in increased transaction volume through stamp duties, fees, PAYE, and indirectly through reduced unemployment, increased civic satisfaction and so on. This can be achieved if the bureaucracy is trimmed down, the response times are faster, the process is transparent and the per unit processing cost is reduced.

Boston Marathon Bomber Files For Re-trial

Lawyers for the Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, filed a motion for a new trial Monday, less than two weeks after he was formally sentenced to death for the 2013 attack.

The motion did not contain any details on Tsarnaev’s legal arguments, saying only that a new trial is “required in the interests of justice.”

Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted of 30 federal charges in the bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260. The jury recommended the death penalty, and a federal judge sentenced him to death on June 24.

Morocco skirt trial causes outrage

BBC Reports

Two women have gone on trial in Morocco on charges of “gross indecency” for wearing skirts.

The two were arrested in Inezgane last month, after a market trader drew attention to what they were wearing and a crowd gathered round, reports say.

An internet petition calling the arrest an attack on personal freedom has attracted thousands of signatures.

There was controversy in May when a Jennifer Lopez performance in Morocco was considered “sexually suggestive”.

There have been a number of demonstrations over the case in Morocco, with protesters saying that women should be free to wear what they want.