Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestine will not accept US foreign aid after Thursday for fear of potential US legal consequences per Congress’ Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA) of 2018. The US currently provides nearly $60 million in security funding to the Palestinian government each year. Though the aid is needed, Abbas says the cost of [...]
Sea-Watch e.V. filed a complaint against Italy with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Monday because Italy refuses to allow the ship Sea-Watch 3 to dock at its ports. The ship currently is holding 47 migrants that were rescued from a shipwreck off the Libyan coast earlier this month. The Mayor of Syracuse in [...]
A senior judge at one of the UN courts in The Hague is reportedly resigning over “shocking” political interference from the White House and Turkey. Christoph Flügge, a German judge, claims that the US had threatened other judges who took steps to investigate the conduct of US soldiers in Afghanistan. He also claims that Turkey [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday upheld the acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi, who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy. The court overturned her 2010 blasphemy conviction and death sentence in October for failure to proffer enough evidence that Bibi indeed committed the crime. The review petition was filed by [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that it filed several criminal charges against Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., and its affiliates, Huawei Device Co., Ltd. and Huawei Device Co. USA. The grand jury returned the indictment on January 16, charging the defendants with several counts, including bank fraud, wire fraud, various conspiracy [...]
The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) on Monday published an evaluation report urging Poland to promote greater transparency among persons exercising top executive functions. According to the report, 58 percent of Poles consider corruption widespread. Cases of integrity issues concerning both the police and senior government officials have been reported at [...]
India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was held to be constitutionally valid in its “entirety” on Friday. A Supreme Court bench comprising judges Rohinton Nariman and Navin Sinha ruled that the code, which seeks to consolidate and amend the laws relating to insolvency and bankruptcy, is in consonance with the fundamental rights guaranteed under the country’s [...]
Bahrain’s highest court on Monday upheld a life sentence for Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman for spying for neighboring country Qatar. According to Amnesty International, the case is based on conversations that Salman had in 2011 with the former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, SSheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber [...]
The Israeli Cabinet approved a law Sunday to allow for the export of medical marijuana. The law, which passed the Knesset last month, provides for Israeli companies to export medical marijuana with an appropriate license. The licenses will be issued by the Minister of Health with an appropriate recommendation from the police and a committee [...]
After a third and final review of House Bill 8858, the Philippines House of Representatives passed a bill lowering the minimum age of social responsibility to 12 years old. The original version of the bill, which proposed lowering the age to nine, faced criticism and backlash for detaining children who commit crimes related to government [...]
