The Second Court of Appeals denied the release on bail of Lorretta C. Marra, an anti-abortion activist accused of helping suspected murderer James Charles Kopp avoid capture by authorities. Kopp is charged with the 1998 sniper-style killing of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an Amherst, NY abortion provider. In addition to Slepian’s murder, Kopp is also suspected in four other sniper attacks on abortion providers. Formerly on the FBI’s “Most Wanted List,” Kopp was finally captured in Dinan, France earlier this year.
Loretta Marra was previously arrested with Kopp in January 1991 during a clinic blockade in Levittown, New York, and her husband, Dennis Malvasi, has previously been convicted of three clinic bombings in the state of New York and served a seven-year prison sentence. Marra and Malvasi are both being held in local jails for helping Kopp elude law enforcement. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
5/20/2013 Afghan Violence Against Women Law Blocked in Parliament - On Saturday, the Speaker of the Lower House of Afghan Parliament delayed a vote on the Elimination of Violence against Women law after two hours of vociferous debate between conservative religious and more liberal members of Parliament. . . .
5/20/2013 Walmart, American Retailers Refuse to Join Bangladesh Accord - Walmart, along with 13 other major North American companies, refused to sign a legally binding agreement to improve working conditions for overseas factory workers that manufacture their clothes after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh killing an estimated 1300 workers, the New York Times reports.
The agreement requires retailers pay $500,000 to improve worker safety measures over a five year period. . . .
