Amnesty International Tuesday released its annual Report on Death Sentences and Executions which noted a sharp increase in executions in Iran and Saudi Arabia while describing global use of the death penalty between January and December 2021.  The report reflects that there was a rise in executions and death sentences in 2021 after Covid-19 restrictions [...]

The Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to end the controversial Title 42 was Friday blocked by Judge Robert Summerhays of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Title 42 allows border patrol officials to quickly deport migrants at the US-Mexico border, whether or not they are legally seeking asylum, in order to stop the [...]

British police Thursday announced an end to their investigation of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for alleged violations of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions throughout 2020 and 2021. According to a press release from the Metropolitan Police, no further fines would be issued against Johnson or his wife. The press release stated that 53 fixed penalty notices [...]

The UK High Court Wednesday allowed a case against the UK government for its continued use of the PPE manufacturer Supermax to go forward. All the Citizens, represented by UK law firm, Wilson Solicitors, is suing the government for continuing its relationship with the Malaysian company, despite an investigation uncovering allegations of forced labor in [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday held that the District Court for the Northern District of California’s COVID-19 protocols violated defendant James David Allen II’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. In 2020, the district court prohibited the public from attending Allen’s suppression hearing and trial “and rejected his request [...]

“In the pandemic economy, face masks are like bars of gold. Hoarders are hoarding them. Governors are bartering for them. Hospital workers desperately need them.” – Michael Schulman The N95 mask is very important armor in battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Instances of hoarding and black marketing of masks are rising in India. Healthcare personnel risk [...]

The British Mathematician, Clive Humby once famously said, “Data is the new oil.” He used it as a metaphor to explain that data is a resource, just like oil, that is useless “unrefined,” but once it is “refined” (mined and analysed), it creates enormous value. A lot of information can be extracted from data just [...]

Technology has always been a necessary evil but the advent of Deepfake has tilted the balance more towards the evil side. Deepfakes are an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based technology used to morph a person’s face onto another and manipulate voice recordings. Deepfakes have been increasingly used to create doctored videos and sound recordings which on [...]

Systems of government procurement are instrumental in mitigating the effects of the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. First of all, well-organized cooperation between the government and the private sector can help address the most urgent problems, such as shortages of personal protective equipment and ventilators. Second, contracting out research and development projects [...]

The Prime Minister (PM) is the Chairman ex-officio of both the Prime Minister National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the PM-CARES Fund, constituted to deal with disaster situations, like COVID-19 (which is also a “notified disaster”). Notably, the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (‘2005 Act,’ for short), pregnant with the statutory Fund, having all the trappings of [...]