Saturday, January 21, 2006

Judge M. Brooke Murdock of the Baltimore Circuit Court in Maryland struck down a 1973 law banning same-sex marriage yesterday, ruling the measure violated a state constitutional amendment prohibiting sex discrimination.

The decision will not allow gay couples to be immediately eligible for marriage licenses because Murdock stayed the order pending an appeal. The state’s attorney general’s office filed the appeal right after the ruling was made.

“Although tradition and societal values are important, they cannot be given so much weight that they alone will justify a discriminatory statutory classification,” the judge stated in the ruling. “When tradition is the guise under which prejudice or animosity hides, it is not a legitimate state interest.”

In making the decision, Judge Murdock wrote, “the court is not unaware of the dramatic impact of its ruling.”

Ken Choe, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, said “men and women were indeed treated differently under the law Judge Murdock struck down. A man can marry a woman, but a woman can’t marry a woman. Same-sex couples need the same protections for their families that opposite-sex couples do.”

The ACLU hailed the ruling, calling it “a historical step toward allowing same-sex couples to legally marry in Maryland.” She considered but dismissed all the state’s arguments for the restriction, noting “Prevention of same-sex marriage is not rationally related to the state’s interests in promoting stable families and protecting the best interests of children. … These arguments are illogical and inaccurate.”

Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. released a statement saying that that the state will “begin a vigorous appeals process. I firmly believe the institution of marriage is for one man and one woman only.”

Governor Ehrlich had sent to Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D), a letter in response to the ruling advising him to appeal the decision and offered additional resources to support the appeal.

“We have noted an appeal and think it appropriate that the court stayed the operation of its order,” said Kevin J. Enright, a spokesman for Curran, in a statement. “We await having the decision of Maryland’s appellate courts.”

The Maryland House of Delegates scheduled hearings for January 31, 2006 on proposals dealing with same-sex marriages, including a proposed constitutional amendment.

John Lestitian, a plaintiff in the case, said Murdock’s decision was “a step in a very long process. As a 40-year-old man, I should be able to decide who my family is.”

“This is such an exciting moment,” said Lisa Polyak. Her partner of 24 years, Gita Deane, was a plaintiff in the case. “Our participation in this lawsuit has always been about family protections for our children. Tonight, we will rest a little easier knowing that those protections are within reach.”

The equal rights amendment in Maryland’s State Constitution was ratified by voters in 1972. The marriage law which defined marriage as only between one man and one woman was approved the following year.

The lawsuit leading to the decision started when nine gay and/or lesbian couples and one individual sued court clerks in five Maryland counties for denying marriage licenses to them, citing legal, financial, and emotional harm. In July of 2004, the ACLU filed the suit challenging the state ban on same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriages are only legal in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, with the states of Vermont and Connecticut recognizing other civil unions. Hawaii and New Jersey offer some legal protections to same-sex couples, while 13 states have appoved constitutional amendments rejecting recognition of same-sex marriage. Courts in California, New Jersey, New York and Washington State are facing cases on the issue.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Scarborough East (Ward 44). One candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Donald Blair, Diana Hall, Mohammed Mirza, Ron Moeser, Kevin Richardson, Richard Rieger, Richard Ross, and Kevin Wellington.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Monday, February 2, 2009

An international credit ratings agency has downgraded the creditworthiness of British bank Barclays ^LSE: BARC

The bank’s shares fell on the news that Moody’s had cut long-term debt ratings from “Aa1” to “Aa3” on the back of fears of nationalization, significant losses and write downs of more bad loans as the recession bites. The bank’s financial strength was also downgraded from “C” to “B”. Last week, another agency, Fitch, downgraded the bank one step to “AA-minus”.

Barclays is one of the few major “High Street” banks in the UK not to have taken any government capital support. The support is given in return for shares, giving the government significant – sometimes even controlling – stakes in other banks, such as Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

Moody’s said that the downgrades “reflect [our] expectation of potentially significant further losses at Barclays as a result of write-downs on credit market exposures as well as an increase in impairments in the UK, which could weaken profitability and capital ratios… [we consider] the systemic importance of the bank and the likelihood of receiving government support in case of need to be high.”

The bank has forecast a pre-tax profit of £5.3 billion for 2008. It has £36 billion in committed capital equity and expects gross write downs of £8 billion. The bank has recently been referred to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office over allegations of breaching South Africa’s foreign exchange controls, something the bank denies.

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Friday, June 20, 2008

A team of scientists from the United States, United Kingdom and the Netherlands have determined that chemicals that form the building blocks of DNA and RNA found in a meteorite had formed before the meteorite fell to Earth. In a paper published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters on June 15, the team documents an examination of molecules found in the Murchison meteorite, fragments of which landed near the village of Murchison, Victoria in Australia in 1969.

Previous studies had identified amino acids and sugars in the meteorite that were believed to have formed in space. The samples the current study examined included molecules of uracil and xanthine, which belong to the class of nucleobases – chemicals which, when combined with sugars, form a crucial part of DNA and RNA. These molecules contained a form of carbon, known as carbon 13, in much higher concentrations than would be expected if they had come from contamination through exposure from Earth sources. The study, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging, had not been undertaken before due to its laborious and time-consuming nature – the low concentration of nucleobases in the meteorite meant that 15 grams of space rock had to be processed to get a large enough sample, compared to the milligrams required for previous studies.

Co-author Dr Zita Martins, a chemist and astrobiologist from Imperial College London, believes their findings suggest that some of the chemicals that generated life on Earth came from meteorite bombardments. “We are not saying that only meteorites contributed to the building blocks of life,” she said, “but it’s a very great contribution.” Other scientists, however, do not believe that meteoritic chemicals played such a significant role. According to Emeritus Professor Robert Shapiro of New York University, “They’re a subunit of a subunit of DNA. My opinion is that their amounts were utterly unimportant and insignificant.”

Wikinews contacted Professor Paul Davies, a physicist and astrobiologist presently at Arizona State University, about the recent findings. While he agreed with the findings, he said that he thinks such discoveries are “a red herring in the origin of life story – a hangover from the Miller-Urey experiment. Life is all about information – its replication and processing.”