The US Treasury Department announced Tuesday that four companies have been blacklisted for aiding the Venezuelan regime’s efforts to transport oil to the US market. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed Adamant Maritime Ltd, Afranav Maritime Ltd, Sanibel Shiptrade Ltd and Seacomber Ltd on the specially designated nationals list. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency Wednesday after 20,000 tons of diesel oil leaked into a river within the Arctic Circle. The spill went unreported for two days, which may have caused irreparable damage to the region. The spill was caused by a fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian [...]

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong passed a law on Thursday that criminalizes the mockery of China’s national anthem. Under the new law, which was passed to “preserve the dignity of the national anthem,” individuals are not allowed to alter the lyrics of the national anthem, play or sing it in a “distorted or disrespectful [...]

The Paris Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed a lower court decision to transfer Felicien Kabuga to Arusha, Tanzania, to be tried for his role as the primary financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Kabuga will be handed over to the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), which is primarily based out of The [...]

US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said Tuesday that the Trump administration will investigate several countries over the implementation of taxes on digital services, which are suspected to discriminate against US companies. Initiating a Section 301 investigation under the Trade Act of 1974 will give the USTR broad authority to respond to a foreign country’s [...]

South Africa’s High Court ruled Wednesday that some of the level 3 and 4 lockdown measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 were “unconstitutional and invalid,” ordering a 14-day period to overhaul the restrictions. At the start of the pandemic, South Africa had the most restrictive lockdown measures, including a ban on [...]

The Venezuelan government announced an initiative Tuesday to fund a stronger COVID-19 response. The government has come to an agreement with the opposition to support the initiative together in the hopes of convincing the majority of the Venezuelan people to participate. The initiative looks to gather funds to expand testing capabilities. The purpose is to [...]

The US Supreme Court denied certiorari in HSBC Holdings v. Irving H. Picard on Monday, a case concerning whether the liquidation trustee of Bernie Madoff’s estate can seize overseas funds. Madoff was convicted in 2009 of defrauding investors through a Ponzi scheme. Last year the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit allowed the [...]

In an op-ed for the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to change the UK’s immigration rules to allow almost 3 million Hong Kong residents to seek refuge in the UK if China implements its new national security law. Approximately 350,000 Hong Kong residents currently have British National Overseas [...]

US human rights activist and former political prisoner Mohamed Soltan sued former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Abdel Aziz el–Beblawi Monday for conspiring with government officials to arrest, torture and assassinate him for his high–profile activism during Egypt’s 2013 Revolution. Soltan filed the complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia under the [...]