In a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court held Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cannot demand equitable monetary relief under section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA). The case involved Scott Tucker, payday loan businessman and convicted racketeer, and his AMG Capital Management company. The FTC initially levied a $1.27 billion fine [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that non-citizens and non-residents can claim an aboriginal right under the constitution. The case was about the definition of “Aboriginal peoples of Canada” in Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution. The court found the central question to be whether people who are not Canadian citizens or do not [...]

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders on Saturday held a meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, where they called for an “immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar.” While the meeting addressed several region-specific economic, sociocultural and COVID-19-related issues, the focal point was the situation in Myanmar. The meeting was chaired by Brunei’s head of state Hassanal [...]

The US Supreme Court Thursday held that Social Security disability claimants are not bound by the issue-exhaustion requirement in administrative law judge (ALJ) hearings. Writing for a 9-0 court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor concluded that although the Social Security claimants in Carr v. Saul did not raise the issue of an improper ALJ appointment at their [...]

A Special Committee headed by Sir Tim Hitchens and appointed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) in December 2019, has published its findings and recommendations on the early history of the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC). The Committee’s objective was to identify inequalities in IGWC’s commemoration of the deceased people of the British Empire [...]

A rally in Japan on Thursday highlighted major opposition to proposed immigration reform currently under consideration in the National Diet. The proposed reform is seen as an even further tightening of Japan’s selective refugee system. The rally, “Open the Gate For All”, was attended by opposition lawmakers and human rights organizations like Amnesty International Japan and [...]

British lawmakers unanimously declared China’s ongoing crackdown in Xinjiang a genocide on Thursday. With this, the United Kingdom joins the United States, Canada and the Netherlands in condemning Beijing’s actions against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-west region in the strongest possible terms. The motion was introduced by Conservative lawmaker Nusrat Ghani. In [...]

The US Senate passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act on Thursday with an overwhelmingly bi-partisan 94-1 vote, acknowledging the increase in discriminatory acts towards Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The bill if enacted into law will establish a new position within the US Department of Justice to “facilitate the [...]

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill on Wednesday “to require certain documentation be presented before performing an abortion when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.” The bill amends the Arkansas code restricting abortions of “viable fetuses,” providing that it “shall not prohibit the abortion of a viable fetus if the pregnancy [...]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in two cases involving one of its own precedents regarding felony firearms possession. The issues in both cases involves the federal law that prohibits felons from possessing firearms, 18 USC §922(g). Two years ago in Rehaif v. United States the Court held that in order to convict [...]