Current changes reflect a critical moment in the history of Lebanese government. In November 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official profile] urged militant group Hezbollah not to resort to violence [JURIST report] in an attempt to impede the investigation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) [official website], which is investigating the 2005 murders of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [official website] and 22 others. In an interview published by the Lebanese Newspaper An-Nahar [official website], Clinton reiterated US support for Lebanon and noted that the work of the STL is "legitimate and necessary." She also stressed the independence of the tribunal and that "no one knows what the Special Tribunal is going to do, who it might indict, or when it might choose to move forward." Clinton's interview followed remarks made by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah [BBC profile], who said he would "cut off the hands" of any person attempting to arrest a Hezbollah member in connection with the murder. Nasrallah has previously called for all Lebanese to boycott the STL [JURIST report] after information surfaced suggesting that the tribunal is set to implicate members of Hezbollah as participants in the assassination of Hariri.

Other recently passed laws in Russia have raised controversy in recent months. In July, Putin signed into law [JURIST report] a bill that labels all non-governmental organizations that engage in political activity as "foreign agents" and requires them to register with the Justice Ministry before receiving any foreign funding. Also in July, Russian politicians asked [JURIST report] the country's constitutional court to review a recently passed law that increases penalties against protesters who violate regulations. Earlier in July, the Duma approved [JURIST report] the third reading of a controversial Internet regulation bill. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia had shut down its site [JURIST report] in a one-day protest of the legislation, which it said in an article "may become the basis for real censorship on the internet." In May prominent Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekeyev became the first to be convicted [JURIST report] under a St. Petersburg city ordinance that prohibits the spreading "homosexual propaganda" to minors. People who oppose the new law, which was introduced in November and signed into law [JURIST reports] in April, claim it will prevent gay rights groups from being able to assemble in public.

In mid-December Bandaranayake appealed [JURIST report] her conviction arguing that she was not given adequate opportunity to present her defense. She asked to declare the committee's findings illegal and order parliament to suspend any further proceedings against her, pending appeal. She was found guilty [JURIST report] of three, out of five, charges of misconduct by the parliamentary committee earlier that month. The first charge was related to a conflict of interest claim. The fourth charge dealt with claiming of assets for tax purposes. The fifth charge was a claim of bias in dealing with a case against her husband. The second and third charges were dismissed. More than 300 of Sri Lanka's judges had met in the capital Colombo to call for impartiality [JURIST report] in the impeachment proceedings. In November the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers urged [JURIST report] Sri Lanka to take appropriate measures to protect the country's judiciary from threats, intimidation and physical attacks. Earlier last month hundreds of Sri Lankan lawyers and citizens protested [JURIST report] on the street in Colombo calling the government to halt to the impeachment proceedings.

This is the latest development in the ongoing reproductive rights controversy [JURIST backgrounder] in the US. Last October the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declined to reconsider its August decision to allow Texas to defund Planned Parenthood [JURIST reports]. The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld an injunction [JURIST report] against an Indiana law that would block Medicaid funding for abortion providers earlier that same month. Also in October a federal judge blocked a similar bill [JURIST report] that would have defunded Planned Parenthood in Arizona. In August the Fifth Circuit upheld Louisiana's Act 490, which allows the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) to revoke an abortion clinic's license [JURIST report] immediately after a regulation violation, rather than allowing the abortion clinic time to comply with the regulation. That same month a Kansas judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the state's new abortion clinic regulations after state officials asked that they be upheld without a trial.

It is not the first time Roberts has asked the president and Congress to provide additional resources for the judiciary. In 2008 Roberts pressed for raises for federal judges [JURIST report] in his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary that year. As in the recent report he detailed steps that have been taken by the judiciary to reduce spending on rent, personnel and information technology and insisted that its members' requests were modest. In 2007 Roberts called for judicial pay raises [JURIST report] in accordance with pending legislation. In his 2006 report [JURIST report], Roberts declared that raises were necessary to keep up with private-sector salaries and to maintain the quality and independence of federal judges. Roberts' first annual report [JURIST report] in 2005 contained similar requests.

India has been the focal point of several recent controversies concerning rape and sexual rights. Last week India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [official profile] called for peace [JURIST report] after a protest over sexual violence resulted in a clash between protesters and police. In February the Indian Supreme Court heard additional arguments [JURIST report] challenging the decriminalization of homosexual intercourse. In 2009, the Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexual conduct [JURIST report] by declaring India's anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. In 2008, the UN found significant evidence that Indian peacekeeping troops committed sex-crimes [JURIST report] while stationed with the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The right to sex education and contraceptives and associated funding concerns continues to be a global issue. In October, France approved [JURIST report] a bill to pay for contraceptive and abortion coverage for minors. A day earlier, a US federal appeals court declined [JURIST report] to rehear a Texas Planned Parenthood funding case. In September an Illinois appeals court ruled [JURIST report] that pharmacists can refuse to dispense birth control drugs. In May the Tennessee House of Representatives [official website] passed a bill that augments the state's abstinence-only sex education curriculum to allow parents to sue school teachers or organizations that promote "gateway sexual activity" [JURIST report]. In 2009 a German court rejected a challenge [JURIST report] on religious grounds to mandatory sex education.