Protesters filled the streets of Algiers on Friday as the pro-democracy Hirak movement regained momentum after a year-long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hirak, meaning “movement” in Arabic, was formed in 2019 to oppose former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s run for a fifth term. The non-partisan movement aims for systemic change that includes judicial independence and the rule [...]
The US Supreme Court granted injunctive relief in an order Friday to a group of churches in Santa Clara County, California, who sought to continue holding indoor worship services in spite of COVID-19 bans. Under the Santa Clara County guidelines, “ worship service is categorized by the County as a ‘gathering,’ and gatherings are prohibited. [...]
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte signed the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 into law on Friday, giving vaccine makers indemnity if their COVID-19 vaccines cause adverse side effects. Although the number of COVID-19 infections in Philippines is one of the highest in Asia, the Philippines is one of the last Southeastern Asian countries to receive [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Thursday struck down the CDC-issued moratorium on residential evictions, stating that the federal government does not have the authority to implement the ban. Judge John Campell Barker wrote the 21-page opinion, rejecting the argument that the CDC order is within the [...]
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health on Thursday revised a controversial mandatory cremation order for persons who have died from COVID-19. The government had issued the cremation order at the beginning of the global pandemic last year, over concerns that burying bodies of COVID-19 victims could potentially contaminate ground water. World Health Organization guidance from the same [...]
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost Thursday announced the filing of a federal lawsuit before the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio against the the US Census Bureau over delay in the release of population data relevant to Ohio’s upcoming congressional redistricting process. The complaint states that the bureau has unlawfully ignored the statutory deadline for [...]
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday reversed a temporary ban on green cards imposed by former president Donald Trump. Trump issued Proclamation 10014 last April, in which he temporarily suspended the issuance of green cards in order to protect American workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He stated that this proclamation would preserve jobs for the [...]
The Dutch House of Representatives on Thursday both drafted and approved several amendments to the country’s COVID-19 curfew legislation in an attempt to reinstate it after a trial judge granted a preliminary injunction invalidating the law earlier this week. The trial judge held that the law was impermissible, arguing that there is no “acute emergency” [...]
Four conservative lobbyists filed suit in federal court on Wednesday seeking to block Nevada Governor Stephen Sisolak’s COVID-19 emergency orders. The lawsuit calls the shelter-in-place order a “draconian” restriction on Nevadans’ rights, alleging violations of plaintiffs’ due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and plaintiffs’ right to petition under the First Amendment to [...]
A trial court in The Hague granted a preliminary injunction Monday against the Dutch government’s curfew, which was instituted to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The curfew lasted from 9 PM to 4:30 AM and was enacted under the government’s emergency powers, which enabled the executive branch to bypass the Senate and House of [...]
