News in Brief: California Puts Same-Sex Marriages on Hold, and More

California Puts Same-Sex Marriages on Hold

The decision by a federal judge to allow same-sex marriages to resume in California this week has been reversed as the court prepares to hear a formal appeal against the decision to allow same-sex marriages to resume. With this setback, the legal fight against Proposition 8 is expected to continue all the way to the Supreme Court, where a final decision affecting the entire country, and not just California, will be made, CNN reported. Oral arguments are set to be held the week of December 6, and a final decision is likely to come next year. Same-sex marriage is already legal in the District of Columbia and five other states, and New Jersey recognizes civil unions.

Suicide Bomber Kills 60 Outside Iraqi Army Recruiting Center

At least 60 people were killed and another 125 wounded following a suicide attack outside an Iraqi Army recruitment center, reported The Associated Press. The center, which receives about 250 new recruits each week, is considered integral as Iraqi security forces prepare for the US military’s coming withdrawal after seven years of war. The body of the suicide bomber is said to belong to an al-Qaeda recruit, but there has been no positive identification. As many as 1,000 recruits were thought to be waiting to be led inside the recruiting center.

Funding Lags to Aid Pakistan Floods; US Continues Drone Strikes

Aid money for Pakistan is running short to address the full scale of the disaster , with the UN’s appeal for donors only raising 20 percent of the required funds to address the disaster. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the floods “heart wrenching” and the worst disaster he has ever witnessed, and urged the world community to speed up assistance, reported Inter Press Service.

Meanwhile, the US Army is continuing drone strikes in northwest Pakistan. According to reports by the BBC, at least 35 people have died over the weekend in four separate drone attacks.

Protests Greet Former Bush Lawyer at Berkeley; General McChrystal Joins Yale Faculty

What are the requirements of teaching law at a prestigious university? Experience is key, but about 80 protesters lined up around the University of California Berkeley’s law school Monday are saying that the experience of John Yoo will not help their education. Yoo, a UC Berkeley professor who gave legal sanction to the Bush administration’s views on torture, is still employed by the university, according to The Oakland Tribune. Student protesters, including one second-year law student, talked about the shame of being a student at Berkeley’s law school while a war criminal is teaching constitutional law. Yoo wrote legal memos that were instrumental in the development of CIA and military interrogation techniques, and said he did not consider waterboarding to be torture.

Meanwhile, former Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be retiring from his 34-year career in the US Army, which included command of American forces in Afghanistan, and will be joining the faculty of Yale University to teach a class on leadership, reported NPR.

US Journalist to Be Deported From Turkey

An American freelance journalist, who has reported widely on Kurdish rights within Turkey, is to be deported following a government order and three days of interrogation and detention. Jake Hess, who has reported for the news agency that covered the story, Inter Press Service, is accused of taking orders from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a separatist group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU. According to Hess, most of the interrogation focused on three articles he wrote for IPS on the Kurdish issue.