The Chinese government imposed restrictive measures against five major US media outlets Wednesday. The impacted organizations include the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, TIME and Voice of America. The announcement comes weeks after the US designated five Chinese media organizations as “foreign missions,” requiring registration with the US government. The [...]

A federal judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ordered the release of Chelsea Manning from jail Thursday, explaining that her appearance in court is no longer needed. Last year, Manning had been subpoenaed to testify in a federal case involving Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. Manning refused to [...]

The House passed a COVID-19 emergency package early this morning. The bill’s approval comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin spent Friday negotiating the details of the measure. The “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” (H.R. 6201) includes numerous provisions to directly combat the spread of COVID-19. The bill requires testing of the [...]

Iranian officials stated Monday that 70,000 prisoners have been released to combat the spread of the coronavirus within incarceration facilities. Last Wednesday, the government had announced the figure was 54,000. Iran has been one of the countries hit hardest by the outbreak of the coronavirus. As of Monday morning, Iran has more than 6,500 cases [...]

The Virginia legislature passed a bill Sunday to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Governor Ralph Northam is expected to sign the bill into law. HB 972 changes the penalty for simple possession of marijuana. Under current law, individuals who are found to possess marijuana face a maximum fine of $500 and up [...]

A Russian court ruled Tuesday that facial recognition technology does not violate the privacy rights of its citizens. The Russian government has partnered with Ntechlab to provide facial recognition software. Ntechlab created the app FindFace, which can be used to identify random individuals with 70 percent accuracy. All that is needed is an individual’s photograph [...]

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an anti-gun violence measure into law Tuesday. Known as a “red flag law,” the legislation seeks to reduce suicides and mass shootings by taking the weapons of individuals who are suspected of being a danger to themselves or a danger to others. The Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order [...]

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled Monday that governmental acquisition of property via a prescriptive easement is not a taking. Property owners impacted are thus not entitled to just compensation. The factual background of the case involved the town of Sturbridge’s 20-year practice of discharging water onto a property. Due to this extended period of time [...]

US President Donald Trump signed a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) focused bill Tuesday to address the growing employment concerns of American veterans. The “Supporting Veterans in Stem Careers Act” is designed to promote STEM careers for veterans and service members entering the labor force. The law requires the National Science Foundation (NSF) to [...]

The District Court of The Hague ruled Wednesday that Netherland’s System Risk Indication (SyRI) violates the European Convention on Human rights. SyRI had been developed to allow government authorities to share information about welfare recipients to curb abuse. The government outsourced the program to a private organization, “The Intelligence Agency.” The organization uses an algorithm [...]