New Zealand’s government announced a new bill Monday to legalize abortion. The new abortion bill, set to have its first reading Thursday, seeks to modernize the current law on abortion by treating it “as a health issue rather than a crime.” The bill contains several provisions regarding abortion, most of which involve access to abortion [...]

Vice Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Chancery Court ruled Friday against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in his legal battle to change the board of directors of Citgo. Citgo, an American Petroleum refinery company, has been wholly owned by Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA) since 1990. PDVSA is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas [...]

India’s President, Ram Nath Kovind, gave assent Thursday to a bill criminalizing the Muslim personal law practice of “instant divorce.” The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament, approved the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act on Tuesday. It was passed by the lower house of parliament (Lok Sabha) on July 25. [...]

The Netherlands’ Partial Ban on Face-Covering Clothing Act went into effect on Thursday but is expected to be rendered ineffective as both Dutch police and transport companies have expressed reluctance to enforce the law. Commonly referred to as a “burqa ban,” the Act prohibits the wearing of full-face helmets, ski masks, balaclavas, niqabs and burqas [...]

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a midyear report Tuesday detailing the 3,812 civilian casualties in Afghanistan since January 1, 2019. According to this report, Afghan forces and their allies killed 717 civilians, while the Taliban and other militant groups have killed 531 civilians. The report noted a 27 percent decrease in civilian [...]

Amnesty International on Wednesday, called on Egyptian authorities to end “cruel and inhuman detention conditions” at al-Aqrab prison where approximately 130 detainees are on a hunger strike to protest the denial of family visits. The hunger strike has been ongoing for six weeks and is in protest of the detainees not being allowed a single [...]

A Hong Kong court charged 44 protesters with rioting Wednesday due to their involvement in Sunday protests. The peaceful sit-in in a park became “running battles between black-clad demonstrators and police.” They are the first to be charged since protests over the extradition bill began. The defendants were released on bail. Most were ordered to [...]

The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada declined to move election day despite requests from the Orthodox Jewish Community. Section 56.1 of the Canada Elections Act stipulates that general elections are to be held on the third Monday of October of the fourth year since the last general election. The Chief Electoral Officer has broad discretion [...]

UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet on Monday criticized the Brazilian government’s policy to expand mining in the Amazon that could promote violence on indigenous lands. Emrya Wajapi, a leader of the Wajapi community in the northern region of Brazil bordering French Guyana was reportedly killed last week by gold miners. There has been a [...]

The Supreme Court of the UK ruled on Monday that under the principle of open justice, a non-party to a proceeding may have access to written material that was placed before the court if the non-party can explain why they want access to the material and how granting such access will advance the open justice [...]