(CNSNews.com) – Iran is maneuvering with its allies at the U.N. Human Rights Council to block Western attempts to renew the mandate of a special investigator into Tehran's human rights record – a man who has drawn contemptuous criticism from the regime for highlighting abuses.
For the past five years Ahmed Shaheed, a former foreign minister of the Maldives, has been an independent "special rapporteur" on Iran, and over that period Iran has denied multiple requests for him to visit the country.
STATE HOUSE — People accused of stealing items worth between $250 to $1,500 would no longer be charged with felonies in Massachusetts, under a bill passed by the Senate Thursday.
The legislation raising the threshold at which a misdemeanor becomes a felony to $1,500 for larceny, fraudulent use of credit cards, malicious destruction of property and buying or receiving stolen goods, is intended to make it easier for offenders to "get their lives back on track" after a conviction, Sen. Patricia Jehlen said.
