A Canadian law took effect on Wednesday legalizing the sale of marijuana for recreational consumption. The Cannabis Act will “provide legal access to cannabis” and “control and regulate its production, distribution and sale.” Anyone over the 18 is legally permitted to possess at most 30 grams of cannabis. People in Canada are also permitted to [...]

Egypt’s top appeals court, the Court of Cassation, on Monday upheld former president Mohammed Morsi’s three-year prison sentence for insulting the judiciary. The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Morsi and 19 others in December for inciting hatred through TV and media comments. Morsi and other defendants appealed, but the court rejected the appeal and ordered the sentence [...]

A London Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned the “excessive sentencing” imposed on three anti-fracking protesters in Lancashire. The activists, Simon Blevins, Richard Roberts and Rich Loizou, were convicted of causing a public nuisance for their role in a 100-hour blockade on a drilling site and were handed  a 15-16 month sentence. Lord chief justice, [...]

Audi AG announced on Tuesday that it has been fined €800 million (USD $926 million) in Germany for emissions failures. The fines were leveled by the Munich II public prosecutor. Of the total fine, €5 million is from negligent regulatory offences, and the remaining €795 million is from disgorgement of economic benefits. The fines also [...]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called for the immediate release of the remaining hostages captured during the March 1 attack in northeast Nigeria. On Monday Guterres condemned the killing of International Committee of the Red Cross aid worker Hauwa Mohammed Liman, one of the three nurses abducted during the March 1 attack. The attack [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged Saudi Arabia to be more transparent in its investigation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last week. “Mr Khashoggi entered the Consulate and has never been seen since, the onus is on the Saudi authorities to reveal what happened to him from that [...]

President of The Gambia Adama Barrow on Tuesday announced announced the creation of a Truth and Reparations Commission to investigate and reconcile the crimes of former president Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh reigned over The Gambia for 23 years, taking power through a bloody coup d’etat and thereafter allegedly committing many crimes against humanity including the murders [...]

Companies worldwide must be accountable to their governments for ignoring human rights responsibilities, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights said in a report Tuesday. The experts urged businesses to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in order to prevent negative impacts on human rights through due diligence. [...]

An amendment to the Hungarian constitution, which prohibits people from living in public spaces, took effect Monday. The amendment provides police with the authority to issue warnings those in violation of the policy. If one receives four warnings within a 90-day period it can result in jail or six months community service. In 2013 the [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the UK Monday to amend a new counter-terrorism bill, stating that the bill “excessively restrict freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and privacy.” The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill makes it illegal for someone to express support for a terrorist organization if it “reckless” encourages others to support the [...]