Cyprus announced via Twitter on Tuesday that it will abolish a citizenship-through-investment passport scheme that grants citizenship and guarantees visa-free travel throughout the EU to individuals who invest €2 million minimum. This announcement followed an investigation by news source Al Jazeera revealing that high-ranking politicians issued passports to convicted criminals. Allegedly, high-ranking Cypriot officials, politicians, [...]
The Belgium federal prosecutor’s office on Tuesday announced the arrest of three Rwandan individuals who were charged with serious international law violations linked to the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The 1994 genocide resulted in the death of an estimated 800,000 Tutsi, Twa and moderate Hutu people in Rwanda between April 7 and July 15, 1994. In [...]
Russian rights groups Open Russia, Memorial and Public Verdict Foundation called on authorities Tuesday to stop using home searches to intimidate opponents. This call came after journalist Irina Slavina died from setting herself on fire in front of the interior ministry office Friday following a police raid of her apartment. On October 1, Slavina reported [...]
Pakistani police in Lahore filed sedition charges Monday against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and 44 other leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party. Sharif was prime minister for three terms, and his last term ran from 2013 to 2017. In 2017 he was removed by the Supreme Court [...]
Judge Steven Logan of the US District Court for the District of Arizona issued an order Monday extending Arizona’s voter registration deadline to October 23 due to the impact of COVID-19. The voter registration deadline in Arizona was originally October 5. On October 2, two non-profit organizations sought an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order [...]
Turkish prosecutors on Monday filed a second indictment against six Saudi individuals suspected in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to Turkish state media. Saudi Arabian dissident and Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in 2018. After arriving at the Saudi consulate in Turkey to retrieve paperwork for a planned marriage, [...]
The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled Monday that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 (PLCAA), a federal gun industry protection law, is unconstitutional. In 2016 a 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed by his friend when the friend mistakenly believed that a gun was unloaded. The boy’s parents sued Springfield Armory, [...]
Judge Gerald McHugh of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a preliminary injunction Monday, enjoining the US Postal Service (USPS) from making service restrictions ahead of the November election. Because of COVID-19, many states have sought to facilitate mail-in voting. A record number of voters are expected to vote by [...]
Human rights organization Amnesty International announced Tuesday that it is ceasing its work in India due to the complete freeze of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Indian government. On September 10 the organization was alerted that all of its bank accounts were frozen by the Ministry of Finance’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) because of [...]
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in China sentenced real estate mogul Ren Zhiqiang Tuesday to 18 years imprisonment for corruption charges. This sentence followed a secretive trial, during which Ren was found guilty of corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds. Ren allegedly accepted bribes of 1.25 million yuan, and he also allegedly [...]
