California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed a bill that would have made it a misdemeanor to pay a person money “or any other thing of value based on the number of signatures obtained on a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition.” The misdemeanor would have been punishable by a fine of up [...]
A federal judge on Monday struck down two Virginia laws that restrict access to abortion, ruling that they unconstitutionally burden women seeking abortions. He upheld two other challenged abortion laws, as well as the remainder of the bill containing one of the spiked laws. US District Court Judge Henry Hudson struck down Virginia’s second-trimester hospital [...]
German prosecutors have filed charges against Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch and former CEO Martin Winterkorn, according to a statement Tuesday. The indictment charges the executives with intentionally misleading shareholders by withholding information about the company’s 2015 emissions-cheating scandal. In September 2015, authorities in the US revealed that Volkswagen had rigged millions [...]
The UK Supreme Court on Tuesday heard two simultaneous appeals over whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson broke the law by suspending Parliament for five weeks in the run-up to the Brexit deadline, currently scheduled for October 31. Lord Pannick QC represented anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, appealing from an English High Court ruling that Johnson’s decision [...]
The British government published a report on Wednesday forecasting the “reasonable worst-case scenario” of a “no-deal” exit of the UK from the EU. British opposition lawmakers compelled the publication of the report via a Parliamentary vote for its release. The report predicts severe traffic jams at ports resulting in food and medicine shortages, as well [...]
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced via Twitter his decision to fire John Bolton from his post as national security adviser. The firing came as a result of disagreements over national security matters concerning Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan. The president wrote on Twitter that he “informed John Bolton last night that his services [...]
A federal judge found Wednesday that the merger of CVS Health Corp and health insurer Aetna was legal under antitrust law. Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia conducted the review and made the approval in response to a Justice Department decision to allow the merger to go forward. [...]
A group of 17 major record companies, including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group, filed suit on Tuesday against internet service provider (ISP) RCN Corporation. In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege that RCN “knowingly contributed to, and reaped substantial profits from, copyright infringement by RCN subscribers, including thousands of repeat infringers.” [...]
The California state Assembly on Wednesday approved a police use-of-force bill that could give the state one of the strictest standards for justifying the use of deadly force by police officers. However, days before the passage of the bill, key concessions were made to appease law enforcement, which have caused some of the bill’s original [...]
Scotland’s Inner House of the Court of Session on Thursday affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss a challenge brought against an abortion law that permits women to use abortion pills at home. The suit was brought by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the largest pro-life group in the UK. The [...]
