Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Europe’s top rights court told Moscow it must recognize same-sex marriages; The Supreme Court heard arguments in an international legal battle between the U.S. government and a Turkish bank over sanctions violations; A bill introduced in the South Carolina Legislature would end a decades-old prohibition on children playing pinball, and more.

National

Justices look for off-ramp in sanctions case against Turkish bank

After tangling in an international legal battle between the U.S. government and a Turkish bank over sanctions violations, some of the high court’s justices appeared to want to take a step back on Tuesday.

Do you know what’s really in your ESG fund?

There’s a massive disconnect between what many individual investors believe about ESG funds and what the funds actually do, which means that thousands of people who think they’re changing the world by aligning their portfolios with their values may actually be changing the world in a way they don’t like.

(Image by iqbal nuril anwar from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Regional

The flap over flippers: South Carolina bill would repeal decades-old ban on kids playing pinball

Pinball traces its roots to the French game bagetelle but has been linked, rightly or wrongly, to gambling since the 1930s. State lawmakers think it’s time to go full tilt and end the pastime's bad rap.

Several patrons test their pinball skills Jan. 5, 2023, at The Recovery Room in Charleston, South Carolina. The state is the last in the nation that still has a law on the books prohibiting juveniles from playing pinball. (Steve Garrison/Courthouse News)

10th Circuit takes up timeliness debate in chicken investor suit

The 10th Circuit on Tuesday considered whether time limits mean a complaint filed by investors against a chicken producer engaged in a price-fixing scheme is overcooked.

FILE - This April 28, 2020 file photo shows the Pilgrim's Pride plant in Cold Spring. Minn. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. has reached a plea agreement with the U.S. government, Wednesday, Oct. 14, over charges of price-fixing in the chicken industry. If a federal judge approves the agreement, Pilgrim’s Pride would pay a fine of $110.5 million as a penalty for restraining competition. (Dave Schwarz/St. Cloud Times via AP)

International

In landmark ruling, European rights court orders Russia to allow same-sex unions

Europe’s top rights court told Moscow on Tuesday it must recognize same-sex marriages, in a ruling likely to have little impact in the Russian Federation.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. (Photo by CherryX from Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)

British health care crisis escalates with new nurse strikes

Nurses in the United Kingdom are set for a fresh two-day strike this week, protesting against low pay and poor conditions as an ongoing crisis in the country’s health care system deepens.

Nurses demonstrate on a picket line outside the Royal Marsden Hospital in London on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Italy celebrates capture of most-wanted Mafia boss

The arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy's most-wanted Mafia boss, on Monday at a private medical clinic in Palermo is being hailed as a historic moment in the fight against the Cosa Nostra.

In this picture taken from a video released on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, top Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, center, leaves an Italian Carabinieri barrack soon after his arrest at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, after 30 years on the run. (Carabinieri via AP)

Science

Coral reef rays and sharks among the most threatened species in the world, study says

Of the 1,199 species of rays and sharks on the planet, Samantha Sherman of Simon Fraser University and her colleagues say that 134 are associated with coral reefs. In their study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the researchers say that the coral reef rays and sharks face double the extinction risk as the rest of their kind.

Many different species of rays for sale at a market in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. (Samantha Sherman/Simon Fraser University)