Italians voted overwhelmingly to adopt a law that would amend the country’s constitution to reduce the number of MPs in its national parliament by 30 percent in a countrywide referendum held on Monday and Tuesday. The law was first proposed in 2019 as a cost-saving measure by the populist Five Star Movement political party. While [...]
Finland’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a decision by two lower courts to ban a far-right group and two of its subgroups at the request of the National Police Board. The litigation, which originally began in 2017, came to an end when the highest Court ruled the groups’ activities are “significantly contrary to law” and [...]
The European Court of Justice on Tuesday dismissed Austria’s appeal to block the construction of the Hinkley Power C nuclear power station in Somerset, UK. The court upheld the General Court’s decision that the project is in line with the rules of the EU on state aid. The European Commission had approved the UK Government’s [...]
US President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday imposing sanctions on Iran targeting arms sales. The US State Department issued a fact sheet on the sanctions, which are focused on the sale of weapons and materials to Iran. Under “Nuclear Related Measures,” these sanctions are imposed on specific individuals and groups, which, according to [...]
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in China sentenced real estate mogul Ren Zhiqiang Tuesday to 18 years imprisonment for corruption charges. This sentence followed a secretive trial, during which Ren was found guilty of corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds. Ren allegedly accepted bribes of 1.25 million yuan, and he also allegedly [...]
The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that cities can restrict short-term housing rentals. Under the Housing Code, change of use of residential premises in municipalities with more than 200,000 inhabitants requires authorization. The practice of renting out one’s apartment repeatedly constitutes a change of use. This is particularly an issue with Airbnb landlords, who [...]
Amnesty International reported Monday that authorities in Venezuela, El Salvador and Paraguay have held tens of thousands of people in inadequate state-run quarantine centers. The report deemed the facilities to be a “form of repression.” Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March, detention centers in Venezuela, El Salvador and Paraguay have held thousands of people [...]
The US House of Representatives unanimously passed the Savanna Act Monday, a bill designed to “direct the Attorney General to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to address missing and murdered Indians.” The bill requires that federal, state, local and tribal police create protocols to address missing and murdered Indigenous people. [...]
The US House of Representatives voted Monday in favor of legislation that would amend the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act and restore the ability of the federal government to charge health insurers under antitrust laws. This bill, HR 1418, is part of the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2019, which was cosponsored by dozens of Democrats [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a statement of interest in the US District Court for the District of New Mexico on Monday alleging that a rule imposing more strict COVID-19 capacity requirements on private schools than public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. New Mexico’s COVID-19 rules limit public school [...]
