The Commander of US Cyber Command and NSA Director Paul Nakasone Thursday urged Congress to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Services Intelligence Act. Unless Congress acts, Section 702 will expire on December 31, 2023. Section 702 permits the US government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the US without a warrant [...]

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The governors of Wisconsin and North Carolina Thursday signed executive orders banning the use of the Chinese video-sharing application TikTok owned by Bytedance Inc. on government devices due to cybersecurity issues. The states join the federal government, other states and the US Army in their decision. The order from the Wisconsin governor’s office cited “cybersecurity [...]

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The European Court of Justice Thursday held travelers whose travel package had been adversely affected by quarantine measures associated with COVID-19 may be entitled to a reduction in the package price. The case concerned two German travelers who had booked a two-week package holiday in the Canary Islands in May 2020, just before COVID-19 restrictions [...]

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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday reached a $31 million settlement with City National Bank over allegations that the bank engaged in “redlining,” a form of racial discrimination where banks routinely deny loans to communities of color. City National Bank is one of the largest banks in the United States. This is the largest [...]

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The Law Society of England and Wales Thursday announced that it issued a pre-action protocol letter calling on the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab to withdraw his decision not to increase criminal defense solicitors’ legal aid rates by the recommended minimum.  The letter comes over a year after Lord Christopher [...]

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US Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday announced the appointment of special counsel in the investigation of classified documents from the Obama-Biden Administration discovered in an office formerly used by President Joe Biden. Special counselor Robert Hur is a former career Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor and former US Attorney for the District of Maryland. In [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) Thursday released its 2023 World Report on the state of human rights. The report made clear that a rising tide of authoritarianism is a major threat to global human rights and that “unchecked authoritarian power leaves behind a sea of human suffering.” Authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin in Russia, Xi Jing [...]

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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Wednesday expressed concern over Twitter’s recent actions and outlined a series of four recommendations for Twitter to maintain “integrity and the basic human right to freely impart and receive information.” CPJ and RSF highlighted that these four recommendations “constitute the absolute minimum steps necessary [...]

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Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Russian dissident and critic Alexei Navalny, Wednesday pleaded with Russian prison officials to provide her husband with necessary cold medicine. Navalny told Navalnaya in a letter from prison that he recently caught a cold while serving out a Russian prison sentence on alleged parole violations, fraud and contempt of court. [...]

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Cricket Australia Thursday announced that it would not proceed with its one-day international mens series against Afghanistan set to take place in March, citing the Taliban’s recent announcement of further restrictions on women’s and girls’ education and employment opportunities. Cricket Australia explained that the decision came after “extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders,” including the Australian [...]

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