A new United Kingdom-funded task force was formed Monday to investigate human rights violations in Myanmar that have occurred since Myanmar’s February coup. The project, called Myanmar Witness, was created “to independently collect, preserve, process, verify, investigate and review incidents of possible interferences with human rights.” The initiative is funded through the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth [...]
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced Friday that it opened a formal investigation against Amazon and Google for potentially failing to protect users from fake reviews. Both corporations potentially violated UK consumer protection rules. The CMA opened an initial investigation in May 2020 to determine whether major online shopping websites were taking adequate [...]
The US Supreme Court declined Monday to review a decision that allowed a transgender student to use the bathroom that corresponded to his gender identity. Gloucester County School Board v. Grimm was originally filed in 2015 after Gavin Grimm, who was born as female but identifies as male, was denied the use of the boys’ [...]
The UN General Assembly called Friday for a stop to the flow of weapons into Myanmar, as well as for Myanmar armed forces to stop violence against peaceful protesters. The assembly also called for the military to respect the November 2020 election results. According to the UN, about 600 people have been killed and 100 [...]
The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously struck down a state law provision Friday that allowed police to draw blood from unconscious drivers and test it for alcohol content without a warrant. Under Wisconsin Statute § 343.305, an officer can request a blood sample from the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in the death [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday limited new trials for felons convicted for being in possession of a firearm, limiting the retroactive application of its 2019 decision Rehaif v. United States. The issue in Greer v. United States involved 18 USC §922(g), the federal law prohibiting felons from possessing firearms. Under the 2019 decision in Rehaif, the [...]
The Biden administration announced Friday that it intends to restore environmental protections to the Tongass National Forest. This would reverse a Trump administration rule that allowed logging and road construction in over half of the forest. According to the US Forest Service, the Tongass is the “largest intact temperate rainforest in the world.” More than [...]
The EU adopted a plan Friday banning Belarus airlines from flying over EU territory or landing in EU airports. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s security forces allegedly reported a false bomb threat on a Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania. The flight was forced to redirect outside of EU airspace to Minsk, where Belarusian security [...]
The Biden administration on Tuesday formally ended a Trump administration policy that forced 68,000 asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their court dates in US immigration court. Under the Migrant Protection Protocols Program, enacted in 2019, individuals entering or seeking admission into the US from Mexico could be returned to Mexico and made to [...]
The Vatican updated the criminal section of its Code of Canon Law Tuesday, changing Catholic Church law to explicitly criminalize the sexual abuse of adults by priests who abuse their authority. Laypersons who hold church office can similarly be sanctioned for sex crimes. The Code of Canon Law regulates the 1.3 billion-member Catholic Church. It [...]
