Judge Carlton Reeves of the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled Wednesday that the state violated the rights of residents with severe mental illness (SMI) due to its lack of local treatment options. In his decision, Reeves noted that: On paper, Mississippi has a mental health system with an array of [...]

Ramush Haradinaj, the former prime minister of Kosovo, was in The Hague Tuesday to answer questions about war crimes allegedly committed during the 1989-99 war. Haradinaj resigned last week “not to be questioned as the country’s leader” by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He ultimately declined to answer any of the prosecutors’ questions, presumably on the [...]

In a 4-3 decision on Wednesday, Tthe Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a 2015 City of Pittsburgh ordinance that requires employers to provide paid sick leave to workers. The ordinance was challenged by the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association and several Pittsburgh businesses that argued that the city lacked the authority to require employers to provide [...]

US District Judge Brian Cogan on Wednesday sentenced Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo,” to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered him to forfeit 12.6 billion dollars.  Guzmán ran one of the largest narco-cartels in Mexico and as recently as 2009 was listed on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest [...]

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova has removed President Igor Dodon from his post and appointed former Prime Minister Pavel Filip. Dodon is a member of the Russian-backed Socialist Party, which won 35 of the 101 legislative seats in the February elections. While the Socialist Party was the largest bloc in parliament, they had [...]

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released new restrictions on non-family travel to Cuba Tuesday. The new OFAC regulations end a “grandfathering” provision that allowed individuals who had made at least one travel-related transaction for a people-to-people trip [...]

The Scottish Government released a framework bill Wednesday that would enable another independence referendum vote. The bill does not establish a date, question, or referendum period, all of which would have to be set in a separate piece of legislation. Scotland last voted on independence from the UK in 2014, when voters rejected the proposal [...]

The Westminster Magistrate’s Court ruled Wednesday that MP Boris Johnson must appear in court to face an accusation of misconduct in public office. The claim alleges that Johnson lied in order to encourage voters to leave the EU. Johnson was a prominent figure in the campaign to for Britain to leave the EU and resigned as [...]

Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill Tuesday allowing the composting of human remains.  The new law, which takes effect May 1, 2020, is the first of its kind in the US. The bill passed with bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate despite opposition from the Catholic Church. Joseph Sprague, executive director of [...]

The UK Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that decisions by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) are subject to judicial review.  Prior to the ruling, IPT decisions could only be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. The IPT was established in 2000 to provide an avenue for redress for anyone who feels that they have [...]