TEL AVIV — The Israeli parliament voted Monday to make death by hanging the default penalty for Palestinians from the West Bank who are convicted of killing someone in a terrorist act, a significant push to expand capital punishment in a country where it has been practically abolished. Source link
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), is investigating 13 Democrat-run states for allegedly forcing employers’ health insurance plans to cover abortions. Officials say these rules trample the Weldon Amendment’s federal conscience protections. The Weldon amendment blocks states from punishing health insurers, plans, or providers who refuse to pay for, provide, or refer for abortions on moral or religious grounds, and has appeared in every HHS spending bill alongside the Hyde Amendment since 2005. “OCR launches these investigations to address certain states’ alleged disregard of, or confusion about, compliance with the Weldon Amendment,” Paula M. Stannard, HHS Director of the Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement. “Under the Weldon Amendment, health care entities, such as health insurance issuers and health plans, are protected from state discrimination for not paying for, or providing coverage of, abortion contrary to conscience. Period.” The states targeted in the investigation are California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, all of which require …
MANCHESTER, England March 19 : Every team in a FIFA women’s competition will be required to have at least one female head or assistant coach, part of sweeping new regulations from soccer’s governing body aimed at boosting the number of women coaching at the highest levels. The regulations, approved by the FIFA Council on Thursday, come into effect with this year’s U-17 and U-20 Women’s World Cups and the Women’s Champions Cup, and significantly will include the Women’s World Cup next year in Brazil. The new regulations stipulate each team must have two female staff on the bench and will cover all FIFA women’s tournaments, from youth to senior level. “There are simply not enough women in coaching today,” said FIFA’s Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis. “We must do more to accelerate change by creating clearer pathways, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility for women on our sidelines. “The new FIFA regulations, combined with targeted development programmes, mark an important investment in both the current and future generation of female coaches.” Only 12 of the …
Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The federal crackdown on unqualified truckers kicked into a higher gear Friday when the nation’s transportation chief announced that tests for commercial driver’s licenses must be given only in English. A truck drives through the Port of Oakland in Oakland, Calif., on Nov. 14, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed the latest policy with a goal of ensuring that truck drivers understand English well enough to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers. Florida has already implemented English-only tests. The new order includes modernizing the commercial driver’s license (CDL) registration system, cracking down on fraud, and improving driver safety. “American families deserve safe roads and we are going to deliver them,” Duffy said in a post on X. In another post on Friday, Duffy said that it is easier for noncitizens to get a CDL than U.S. citizens, noting that under the Biden administration, illegal immigrants seeking licenses were not subject to background checks, unlike American applicants. “Our new rule …
A report found that forcing remote employees to return to the office can cost them thousands of dollars a year because of the time they spend commuting. The landscape of the workplace has changed a lot in recent years. Some companies were already leaning toward remote work models for their employees before the pandemic, but many had not even considered it until the lockdown forced them to rethink how they did business. Now, nearly six years later, it feels like remote jobs are in increasingly short supply. Many job seekers want the benefits that come from working from home, but companies just aren’t willing to let them. This back and forth has led to shifting policies for many companies, and it turns out that they’re impacting workers a lot more than you might think. The average employee who has to return to the office loses over $8,000 a year. RTO mandates seem like they’re just a part of working life now. A 2025 report from CBRE found that 77% of employees were expected to work …
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is issuing a new mandatory rule that requires all commercial airlines in the country to formally commit to merit-based hiring for pilots, according to a Feb. 13 statement from the Department of Transportation (DOT). Under the new mandate, all U.S. carriers must certify that the practice of airlines hiring based on race and sex has ended or face a federal investigation. “When families board their aircraft, they should fly with confidence knowing the pilot behind the controls is the best of the best,” DOT Secretary Sean P. Duffy said. “The American people don’t care what their pilot looks like or their gender—they just care that they are [the] most qualified man or woman for the job.” DOT said that even though the FAA has raised performance standards while eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) based positions within the agency and terminating related contracts, “allegations of airlines hiring based on race and sex remain.” The action follows President Donald Trump’s executive order on …
