News Wires's blog

A city Circuit Court judge in Baltimore, Maryland,
John M. Glynn, ordered state corrections officials on Friday to produce
in 30 days a written report that will outline plans to reduce over
crowding and slow processing times at the city's Central Booking and
Intake Center. The state-run facility is a centralized jail designed to
process arrests made by all city police precincts and is the gateway
into the criminal justice system of suspects taken into custody in the
city of 640,000 people.

In the last 3 months, over 80 arrestees were released from the
Central Booking facility without being formally charged. In April this
year, a temporary restaining order was issued by Judge Glynn against
the facility to enforce the release of those held more than 24 hours
after their intake who did not receive a hearing by a court
commissioner. The commissioner sets bail, if granted, and formalizes
the charges filed by the arresting officer. The charges are then
entered into the state's computer system where the case is tracked. The
hearing also marks the date for the suspect’s right to a speedy trial.  Read More »

MTV Networks launched a new cable channel to 10 million homes Thursday featuring movies, documentaries and original programming targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender audience becoming the first 24-hour digital cable network offered in the United States on several cable providers and satellite systems.  Read More »

Massive music concerts are taking place around the planet under the Live 8 banner in an effort to put pressure on the leaders of the eight richest countries in the world to end global poverty.

All the concerts are timed to take place between 2pm and 10pm local
time, with over a million people expected to attend concerts in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, Canada, South Africa and Russia.  Read More »

Spain, a predominantly Catholic country, became the third nation Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage following The Netherlands and Belgium.

By a vote of 187-147 with four abstentions, the 350-seat Congress of
Deputies approved the measure to give same-sex couples the same rights
as heterosexual ones, including the right to adopt children and inherit
each others' property. The bill, which became law immediately, says:
"Matrimony shall have the same requirements and effects regardless of
whether the persons involved are of the same or different sex."  Read More »

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced actions taken in eleven nations as part of the FBI's covert "Operation Site Down". The infiltration of so-called 'Topsites' resulted in searches, arrests, and seizures in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal and Great Britain in addition to the United States.  Read More »

The OhmyNews International Citizen Reporters' Forum (see previous report)
concluded on Saturday with several speeches and a visit to sponsoring
companies in South Korea's technology sector. Some invited "citizen
reporters" from around the world extended their stay by several days to
tour the country. Since the conclusion of the conference, presentations
and transcripts have been published on the OhmyNews web site.  Read More »

Scotland on Sunday published this Sunday the results of an undercover investigation into the protests planned for the 31st G8 summit.
The investigation of the "anarchists and dissenters" of the movement
lasted six months and was carried out by Scott McCulloch, on behalf of
the Scottish newspaper's broadsheet Sunday edition.

McCulloch's report details the training camps of the protest groups
that were held this weekend in preparation for the summit next month.
Attendees were expected to learn how to cut or climb over fences and
how to avoid injury from attacks by guard dogs. Factories making tubes
that protesters use to lock themselves to other protesters are also
being set up according to the report on the investigation. Massive road
blocks are planned in an attempt to disrupt the Summit.  Read More »

Speaking before an audience of 750 soldiers and airmen on Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US President Bush began an effort to shore up waning support for military actions in Iraq.

Within the speech, President Bush commented that he does not feel that setting a timeline for withdrawal of troops, or sending more troops, are the right solutions to the problems in the area.  Read More »