Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday against a blanket ban on religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The constitutional court was called to hear this case after a Muslim association in Lower Saxony appealed the ban. The association stated its intention to hold Friday prayers for its 1,300 members during the remaining weeks of [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday that all assault-style weapons would be banned effective immediately. Following the deaths of 22 people in a mass shooting in Nova Scotia last week, Trudeau announced that there is “no place for such weapons in Canada.” The person responsible for the attack was armed with semi automatic riffles, [...]

Sudan’s new government officially criminalized female genital mutilation (FGM) on Wednesday. The change is the result of an amendment to Sudan’s Criminal Law Article 141. The act is defined as removing or mutilating “the female genitalia by cutting, mutilating or modifying any natural part of it leading to the full or partial loss of its [...]

The EU and Mexico announced Tuesday that they have concluded a trade agreement four years in the making. “While most of our efforts have been focused lately on tackling the Coronavirus crisis, we have also been working to advance our open and fair trade agenda,” said EU Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan, who announced the [...]

In a study released MONDAY by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and some of its partners, experts showed that gender-related violence has risen while and access to family planning has decreased. This study found that nearly 50 million women across 114 countries are projected to be without access to modern contraceptives if the COVID-19 shutdown [...]

An annual report released by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Tuesday identified India as a country of particular concern since religious minorities in the country have faced “increasing assault” since the 2019 elections. The report states that the national government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, [...]

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday approved an investigation into accusations that President Jair Bolsonaro sought to interfere with police investigations for political gain. Brazilian Attorney General José Levi do Amaral requested the investigation on Monday after the Brazilian Justice Minister Sérgio Moro publicly accused the president last Friday of improper conduct in the appointment of [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by numerous Japanese individuals and business who hoped to sue General Electric (GE) over its role in building and maintaining the reactors that exploded in the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The Japanese plaintiffs had [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided Monday that a case challenging the Texas prohibition of government entities from contracting with companies who boycott Israel is moot. The court vacated the preliminary injunction and remanded the case to the district court to dismiss the complaints. The order did not address the constitutionality of [...]

Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree Sunday ending the death penalty for individuals convicted of crimes when they were minors. This decree could prevent six men from receiving the death penalty. According to Amnesty International, in 2019, Saudi Arabia put 184 people to death, the highest number on record. The President of the Human Rights [...]