Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards signed a new law on Tuesday that eliminates prison time for the possession of modest amounts of marijuana. The new law is the latest move away from Louisiana’s traditionally strict stance on the drug. The bill makes the possession of 14 grams or less a misdemeanor in all cases and [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled Tuesday that the Biden administration does not have the constitutional right to temporarily pause issuing new oil and natural gas leases for offshore and public lands. For now, the federal court has blocked Biden’s executive order issued on January 27. The [...]

A group of Norwegian climate activists on Tuesday formally requested that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) review Norway’s plans for expanded Arctic oil and gas extraction, arguing that their “rights to life and private and family life are directly affected by climate change.” Environmental groups Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth, along with [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s decision to strike down North Carolina’s statewide abortion restrictions. For the past 140 years, North Carolina has criminalized the “procurement or administration of abortion as a felony.” In 1967, the state enacted an exception to the abortion ban that permitted [...]

The US Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act Tuesday to commemorate the end of slavery in the US by establishing Juneteenth as a legal public holiday. Juneteenth was celebrated as “Emancipation Day” in some southern states after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to declare “all persons held as slaves” in [...]

Ontario’s London Police Service announced Monday in conjunction with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that the suspected killer of a family of four Muslims, 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman, is being charged with terrorism in addition to murder. The victims are the Afzaal family, who were killed on June 6 when Valtman allegedly struck them with [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Tuesday for an investigation into the UN for improperly collecting data and sharing personal information from the Rohingya refugees with Bangladesh, which shared the information with Myanmar, their country of origin. The UN is accused of failing to conduct a full data impact assessment, which is a requirement set by [...]

The US Supreme Court declined Monday to take up an appeal by a group of oil companies challenging a California state court ruling permitting two California cities to sue for damages related to climate change, meaning the case will be heard in state court. The cities of Oakland and San Francisco claimed that fossil fuel [...]

The Tagansky District Court in Moscow on Sunday ordered political activist Pavel Krisevich to be detained for two months following a “suicide performance” in Red Square. Krisevich was charged with the crime of hooliganism after firing blanks into the air and then at his head in an act designed to support Russian political prisoners. The [...]

An American father and son duo pleaded guilty on Monday to aiding former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan, while he faced charges of financial misconduct. Japanese authorities indicted Michael Taylor, a US Army Special Forces veteran, and his son Peter Taylor on charges of harboring or enabling the escape of a criminal. They [...]