The Sri Lankan government proposed a new law with a five-year jail term as well as a fine of $1 million rupees to combat the spreading of fake news and hate speech. This proposed legislation comes in the wake of the Easter attacks where misinformation was spread leading to a nine-day ban on the use [...]
The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Thursday unanimously granted a same sex-couple the same right to employment and tax benefits that an opposite-sex married couple has under Hong Kong law. In reaching its decision the court held that because Hong Kong recognizes opposite-sex couples married in other jurisdictions where there marriage is legitimized, [...]
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released new restrictions on non-family travel to Cuba Tuesday. The new OFAC regulations end a “grandfathering” provision that allowed individuals who had made at least one travel-related transaction for a people-to-people trip [...]
A new report from Freedom House warns that the right to freedom of the press may be under attack in a number of democratic countries. The report paints a dark picture showing former bastions of democracy turning on the media. The report does clarify that it is not generally through arrests or authoritarian suppression, but [...]
The French government has amended Article 33 of the Justice Reform Act to prohibit the use of data analytics on judge behavior. The new law specifically prohibits: “The identity data of magistrates and members of the judiciary cannot be reused with the purpose or effect of evaluating, analysing, comparing or predicting their actual or alleged [...]
A new report from the Canadian National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls calls for justice the systemic murder and disappearance of women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual) The first volume provides background and personal stories on the research and the victims. The report highlights [...]
The US and Chinese governments both issued statements Tuesday reflecting on how China has changed since the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement honoring the protesters and criticizing the current Chinese government. Pompeo praised the protesters and the democratic reforms they called for while simultaneously railing [...]
The Advocate General for the Court of Justice of the EU stated Tuesday that social media sites can “be ordered to seek and identify all comments identical to a defamatory comment that has been found to be illegal, and equivalent comments in so far as the latter originate from the same user.” The case arose [...]
Major opposition parties in Japan, including the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, submitted a bill Monday that would recognize same-sex marriages. The proposed legislation is said to use gender-inclusive language instead of terms like “wife” or “husband” in its statute. However, some critics believe that the bill is not enough to move [...]
A Swedish trial court on Monday denied prosecutors’ request to have WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange detained in absentia over allegations of rape since Assange is already detained in the UK. The detention would have allowed prosecutors to move forward with steps to extradite Assange as he refused cooperation. Under Swedish law, detention in absentia would [...]
