A California federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order banning diversity training for federal contractors in one of several lawsuits currently challenging the order’s constitutionality. Plaintiffs, a group of non-profit community organizations serving the LGBT community and those living with HIV, argued that Trump’s executive order unlawfully described their work as “anti-American propaganda.” [...]

President Trump followed through on threats to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Wednesday, complaining that it “fails to make any meaningful changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, despite bipartisan calls for repealing that provision.”  In his memo communicating his veto to the House he said that Section 230, absolving [...]

The Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, ruled Wednesday that the government’s decision to extend closure of cinemas, theatres, and cultural venues after the easing of national lockdown was justified. The ruling comes after France eased its national lockdown on December 15, but decided to keep cinemas, theatres, museums, and other cultural venues shut [...]

President Trump announced 26 new pardons on Wednesday, including full pardons for his longtime ally Roger Stone, former campaign chairperson Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner, the father of White House senior advisor Jared Kushner. The US Department of Justice in November 2019 found Roger Stone guilty of obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of [...]

Over 500 bereaved relatives of COVID-19 victims in Italy announced Wednesday that they were pursuing civil action against Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Health Minister Roberto Speranza and Governor Attilio Fontana of Lombardy, one of Italy’s worst-affected regions. The plaintiffs are members of a committee named “Noi Denunceremo” (we will go to court), which has committed [...]

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Tuesday rejected an undertaking by Google in connection with its proposed takeover of sports wearables manufacturer Fitbit that it would behave in certain ways towards rival wearable manufacturers, not use health data for advertising and, in some circumstances, allow competing businesses access to health and fitness data Google [...]

Former college entrance exam administrator Niki Williams was sentenced Monday to one year of probation for her role in the fraudulent admissions scandal involving wealthy parents like Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.  Rick Singer has been identified as the scandal’s architect. Wealthy parents hired him to get their children into schools they were not qualified [...]

The United Nations Human Rights Office Wednesday criticized President Trump for pardoning former Blackwater contractors who were jailed in the US for killing 14 Iraqi civilians. On Tuesday, Trump granted full pardons to the former Blackwater contractors. The contractors had been previously sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2019 for the murders that took place [...]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Article 1, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution offers greater protection to citizens from warrantless searches of their vehicles than does the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Prior to the ruling, Pennsylvania precedent held that the federal automobile exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment [...]

Federal judge Kristine Baker of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas issued Tuesday a temporary restraining order that halted four Arkansas anti-abortion regulations from taking effect. In 2017, the Arkansas legislature passed a set of abortion laws that included a ban on the common abortion method of dilation and extraction, as well as [...]