The Biden administration Thursday announced several measures to make federal forms of identification more inclusive of transgender and nonbinary Americans. In a release posted to the White House website, the administration said that the Department of State would allow Americans to enter their gender as “X” on US passport applications starting on April 11. The [...]

Gay rights advocates Thursday sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to block a new law that will forbid classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. DeSantis signed the bill, commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents, on Monday. The bill, approved by the Senate earlier in March, restricts [...]

The Latvian parliament Thursday voted to ban symbols of military aggression and war crimes from public display, including the letters “Z” and “V” and the Ribbon of Saint George, which are seen as symbols of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the existing Law on the Safety of Public Entertainment and Festivity Events (the Law) [...]

A federal judge Thursday struck down multiple parts of a Florida election law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis last year as unconstitutional. In his ruling, US District Judge Mark Walker said the Republican-backed bill implemented voting restrictions in an effort to suppress Black voters. DeSantis signed Florida’s new restrictive voting bill SB 90 in May [...]

The Supreme Court of Kenya (SCoK) Wednesday declared the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), unconstitutional. Rendered by the highest court in the land, the decision puts an end to a cascade of litigation that originated in the high court last year. The bill proposing an expansion [...]

The US Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it had charged a Chinese national with conspiring to act in the US as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China. Sun Hoi Ying, also known as Sun Haiying, spent at least five years—from February 2017 through February 2022 — acting in the US as [...]

The UK Thursday announced new sanctions on 14 Russian entities and individuals, targeting Russian propagandists and state media who continue to further Russia President Vladimir Putin’s disinformation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the UK and its allies have continually expanded their sanctions campaigns against Russia. These sanctions [...]

New Hampshire voters supported by the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF) Thursday filed a complaint asking the Hillsborough County Superior Court to step in to draw updated congressional districts for the state based on population changes. According to the complaint, in August 2021 the US Census Bureau delivered to New Hampshire its redistricting data generated from [...]

The US Department of the Treasury Thursday announced new sanctions on Russia’s technology sector to “prevent it from evading unprecedented multilateral sanctions and procure critical western technology.” The Treasury also designated the Russian government as “malicious cyber actors” and imposed sanctions on three new sectors. The new technology sanctions identify 21 entities, including Russia’s largest [...]

The UK government Wednesday announced that two of its Supreme Court judges will no longer sit on Hong Kong’s top court, citing a China-imposed national security law that cracks down on dissent. In June 2020, China introduced a national security law after months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The law has drawn widespread criticism [...]