Law

Human rights groups and some Afghan lawmakers criticized President Hamid Karzai on Thursday for signing into law legislation that some believe legalizes the rape of a wife by her husband and prevents women from leaving the house without a man's permission. Critics say the law undermines hard-won rights for women enacted after the fall of the Taliban regime.

A state judge has blocked Pennsylvania's new photo ID requirement from being enforced in the November election, ruling state officials failed to assure that all the eligible and registered voters would have the needed identification. The decision did not strike down the photo ID law, but puts it on hold until the next election. However, state officials can appeal to the state Supreme Court. The ruling is a victory for civil rights advocates who said the newly required photo ID could prevent tens of thousands of older and minority voters from casting a ballot this year.  While the vast majority of Pennsylvanians can use their drivers license as a valid identification, several hundred thousand registered voters who do not drive did not have an acceptable ID card under the terms of the state's strict law. “We are very glad voters will not be turned away from the polls this November if they do not have an ID,” said Advancement Project Co-Director Judith Browne Dianis.

Government records will be more open in South Dakota, Florida is cracking down on illicit prescription drug sales, and downing a cold one at the corner bar will be easier in Utah. New laws that took effect this month reflect states' concerns with holding police more accountable, expanding the use of DNA to solve crimes and offering certain tax breaks. July 1 was the effective date in many states for laws passed during this year's legislative sessions.

Are children who have asthma allowed to take their meds when they go to school? Now they are, but it's complicated. It wasn't until 2010 that the last of the 50 states (North Dakota) enacted legislation for what's sometimes referred to as "self-carry" laws, according to the Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics . But laws vary from state to state, some requiring the child to have a letter from a doctor. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a roundup of some legislation by state .)

AVELLA, Pa. - About two years ago, Dr. Amy Pare began treating members of the Moten family and their neighbors from a working-class neighborhood less than half a mile from a natural gas well here. A plastic surgeon whose specialty includes skin cancer, Pare removed and biopsied quarter-size skin lesions from Jeannie Moten, 53, and her niece, only to find that the sores recurred. "The good news is that it wasn't cancer, and the bad news is that we have no idea what it is," Pare said.

When a burglar carrying a bag of stolen car stereos swung it at Greyston Garcia's head, Garcia swung back with his fist - in which he clutched a kitchen knife. Garcia recovered the bag, which held his own stereo, and went home thinking he'd seen the burglar run away uninjured. But the burglar later died and, months after the Jan. 25, 2011, confrontation, Garcia was facing a second-degree murder charge in a Miami-Dade County courtroom. Garcia claimed self-defense, citing Florida's 7-year-old “stand your ground” law, which is also at the center of the Trayvon Martin shooting case.

About the only thing Dr. Philip Schwarzman can be sure of under the national healthcare overhaul is that he is adding his daughters, ages 23 and 25, to his health plan immediately. Much less clear to Schwarzman is how the sweeping law will affect the emergency department at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he is medical director. "It's incredibly complicated," said the white-haired physician, whose department sees 50,000 patients a year. "It's hard to predict what's going to happen."

San Fernando's former police chief may have violated the law when he successfully sought to dismiss a congressional aide's traffic ticket last year, prosecutors concluded. The Los Angeles County district attorney ultimately decided not to charge the police official, Jeff Eley. But revelations in a district attorney's memo obtained by The Times add another chapter to the political soap opera in the small San Fernando Valley town that has been buffeted by scandal. County prosecutors said Eley, then the department's acting police chief, received a call on his cellphone from the aide within minutes of an officer issuing the ticket in November 2011.

  A century-old law allowing up to 15-year prison sentences for those offending Thailand'sKing Bhumibol Adulyadej has sparked controversy and calls for change as its use has increased. Many who support the lese-majeste statute say it is necessary to uphold the dignity of a king they portray as enlightened and selfless, transcending raucous, corruption-prone Thai politics. Others say the 1908 law meaning "injured majesty," with ancient roots that made it a crime to offend a reigning monarch, undercuts free expression and has no place in modern times.

"The Law in These Parts" sounds like the title of a routine western, maybe something starring Tom Mix or Johnny Mack Brown, but it turns out to be considerably more compelling and provocative. Directed by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz and winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, this is the second superb Israeli documentary (after "The Gatekeepers") to come to town in less than a month and deal fearlessly with an aspect of that country's legal and political system. While "The Gatekeepers" centered on the activities of Shin Bet, Israel's FBI, "Law" has a narrower but equally potent focus: how the legal system Israel uses to rule the occupied Palestinian territories was put into place and how it has functioned over the 40-plus years of its existence.