Moves to separate Crimea from Ukraine do not meet that standard. The rest of Ukraine has not given its consent to transferring Crimea to Russian sovereignty. Hence Russia’s humiliating defeat in the UN Security Council on 16 March. Not one Security Council member voted on Russia’s side. No state wants to see new precedents that call into question its own control of its own territory.President Putin’s bluntly (or brazenly) opened by asserting that international law was on his side.

In order for California’s new Common Core education standards to succeed, districts and the state must address the needs of these students. Common Core is a new set of standards in English language arts and mathematics designed to assess and instruct students, placing greater emphasis on critical thinking and analysis. Instruction is to be more interactive and project-based. Textbooks will have less of an emphasis on rote exercises and more on abstract reasoning. 

Rivera is part of an uncounted population of formerly convicted or incarcerated people trying to find work in a hostile economy. They are failing, by and large, thanks to the illegal but still widespread practice of employers rejecting applicants or firing workers solely because they have criminal records. A growing movement is pushing states to “ban the box,” or more closely regulate when and how employers can ask about criminal records on job applications. 

Every few days, text messages like these pop up on the phones of more than 1,000 women in Fresno County, in California’s Central Valley. The messages come in Spanish, alternately offering referrals for affordable healthcare and domestic violence services, legal tips and affirmations. Any resource offered via text has been vetted by a team of women behind the project, called Únete Latina, to confirm that providers there speak Spanish and won’t ask for a Social Security number.

According to a new study by the real estate website, Trulia, San Francisco ranks second in the nation among cities with the highest income gap. And, my hometown also tops the list of cities with the most expensive price for homes per square feet. Business Insider reports that a million dollars will buy about a 1,500-sq-foot home in San Francisco. That amount in Boston, which ranked second, would fetch a 2,092-sq-foot home. 

The fact is that much of the time jurors are mere pawns in a game of chicken between opposing lawyers. Which side will cave first? In a criminal case, it’s a question of whether the prosecution or the defense will be the first to offer a plea bargain that the other can accept. In a civil case, it’s whether the plaintiff or the defendant will be the first to offer a settlement congenial to both.

The Czech Republic has evacuated dozens of Ukrainians wounded in clashes in Kiev, Urkaine in February and March. After violent protests around Feb. 18, critically-injured victims were air-lifted to Prague hospitals. The Czech Ministry of the Interior and the country´s army collaborated on a special program called Medevac – Medical Evacuation. Founded in 1993 the program was created in order to help with emergency transport of wounded people from abroad. Medevac´s misison is to provide health care to people in critical condition or life-threatening situations. 

For example, Medicare, the federal health care program for people ages 65 and older, requires certain Lawful Permanent Residents to pay an expensive premium, depending on their work history and length of residence. Naturalization ensures access to Medicare on the same basis as all other Americans. The same is true of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a public program that pays benefits to disabled adults and low-income children. Lawful Permanent Residents who came to the United States in refugee status may receive SSI regardless of work history or length of residence, but generally only for seven years. 

Recent impressive growth notwithstanding, corruption also threatens to hold back India’s and Brazil’s drive to join the ranks of the world’s developed countries, and has brought Venezuela and Ukraine to the brink of political collapse. Even China, this century’s economic star, is being handicapped in its long-term quest to overtake the U.S. economically by corruption, so much so that China’s new supreme leader, President Xi Jinpang, has made stamping it out one of the main priorities of his time in office.

Bitcoin’s origins are murky. Some speculate it was created in response to the 2008 recession, promising anonymity and escape from regulation, monetary policy and central banking authorities. These promises made it particularly alluring to Silicon Valley libertarians - as well as drug dealers, Ponzi schemers, and other unscrupulous types. The virtual currency is stored on individual users’ computers and devices or on online repositories, in “digital wallets,” and like cash, can be transferred directly to other users.