The French Senate adopted the constitutional bill to include the right to abortion in the French constitution on Wednesday. The Bill was passed with 267 senators voting in favour of the Bill and 50 against. The bill sought to enshrine the freedom to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy into Article 34 of the French [...]

The New Zealand Parliament started on Tuesday the first reading of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill. The amendment seeks to repeal the previous government’s initiatives in controlling tobacco sales. The previous government set the Smokefree 2025 goal, to reduce smoking rates for all population groups to less than 5 percent. The government [...]

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) refused to grant leave to the government on Friday to appeal the acquittals of seven pro-democracy activists. The lower court overturned the activists’ convictions for organizing an unauthorized assembly but upheld their convictions for participating in an unauthorized assembly. The lower court reasoned that leading and directing [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declined a request made by the Supreme Court of Estonia to give an advisory opinion in relation to the prohibition of double jeopardy on Monday. The ECHR held that the question submitted by Estonia is the subject of well-established case law. Therefore, the ECHR concluded that it is [...]

Canada’s Federal Court declared Tuesday that the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice violated their duties to appoint judges to vacancies in superior courts. Federal Court Justice Henry Brown further wrote that the failure to fill judicial vacancies denies Canadians access to justice without delay, a constitutionally enshrined right. The applicant Yavar Hameed, as a [...]

Russia announced new sanctions against 18 British nationals in response to the UK’s “confrontational policies” against the country on Monday. However, the statement did not mention which particular policy the sanctions are responding to. The sanctions were made against not only the UK’s government officials but also scholars. These newly sanctioned individuals will be denied [...]

The Hong Kong Police Force confirmed that opposition activist Agnes Chow Ting is listed as wanted, at the year-end press conference held on Tuesday. Chow recently completed her jail sentence of 10 months based on her convictions for one count of “taking part in an unauthorized assembly without lawful authority or reasonable excuse” and one [...]

The Israeli Public Defender’s Office warned in a report on Tuesday against worsening conditions of incarceration in prison service facilities. The report stated that the overcrowding in prison service facilities violated a prior High Court ruling and international standards. It called for immediate actions to improve prison conditions in Israel. The report stated that nearly [...]

The Paris Criminal Court acquitted former justice minister François Bayrou for his alleged involvement in a fraudulent scheme that embezzled European public funds on Monday. However, the court found another eight defendants, including five former members of the European Parliament (MEPs) guilty and passed jail sentences ranging from ten to eighteen months. At issue in [...]

The Federal Court of Canada urged the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to “do better” in fulfilling its duty owed to the court, according to a decision handed down by Chief Justice Crampton in October. The decision was declassified on Tuesday. The decision dealt with potential misrepresentations to the court in warrants to obtain Canadian [...]