The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Thursday ruled that two California counties violated the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms when the counties forced gun shops and firing ranges to close in 2020 to limit the spread of COVID-19. The National Rifle Association and pro-gun groups sued California in [...]

The French National Assembly Thursday adopted a resolution condemning Chinese political and humanitarian crimes against China’s Uyghur Muslim minority. The resolution calls on the French government to formalize its stance on the genocidal nature of the crisis, a position already taken by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands. According to the resolution, France’s [...]

European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski Thursday called for additional restrictions on political advertising to be included in a group of new legislation adopted by the European Commission. The legislation concerned is the “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertisements.” Wiewiórowski’s opinion explained [...]

The US Supreme Court Thursday reinforced the Sixth Amendment right of criminal defendants to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in an 8-1 decision. The case, Hemphill v. New York, originated with the 2006 shooting death of a two-year-old in the Bronx. New York prosecutors originally charged Nicholas Morris with the murder, as the same caliber gun used in [...]

The US Supreme Court Thursday denied Texas abortion providers’ request to send their challenge to the nation’s most restrictive abortion law to the federal district court as was previously ordered, instead permitting it to languish in the Fifth Circuit where resolution will likely take several more months. After the Supreme Court allowed a portion of [...]

Former Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of mishandling four sexual abuse cases during his time as Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977-1982, according to a report released Thursday. Benedict, now 94 years old, has long maintained his ignorance of the sexual abuse cases. The Catholic Church commissioned the over 1,000-page report from the [...]

The Central Bank of Russia published a consultation paper Thursday proposing a stricter ban on the use and mining of cryptocurrencies within its territory. The paper, titled ‘Cryptocurrencies: Trends, Risks, and Regulation’ notes the global market for cryptocurrencies skyrocketed in 2021 to $2.3 trillion. The anonymity offered by crypto platforms enables their use in illegal [...]

The Supreme Court of India Thursday pronounced its reasons in a detailed judgement upholding a 29th July notification by the central government to implement a 27% quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the pre-medical exam entrance called National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET). The special bench, [...]

A Pakistan sessions court in Rawalpindi Wednesday sentenced a Muslim woman to death for committing blasphemy by insulting Prophet Muhammad over WhatsApp messages. Aneeqa Atteeq was accused of sending blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad and making remarks about holy personages on WhatsApp while also using her Facebook account to post blasphemous materials to others. The [...]

US Senate Democrats failed Wednesday to change filibuster rules and pass voting rights legislation. HR 5746, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act narrowly passed in the House of Representatives last week by 220-203 votes, but the Senate defeat had been expected. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would have made significant [...]