Seattle’s city council Tuesday voted to ban discrimination on the basis of caste. Seattle is the first city to adds “caste” to other anti-discrimination provisions of its municipal code, following the California state university system’s decision last January to prohibit discrimination on this basis. Caste discrimination has been banned in India since 1948. Discrimination on the [...]

The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Plea Bargain Task Force Wednesday released its 2023 report, which found that 98 percent of criminal proceedings end in a plea bargain instead of a jury trial. According to the report, the emphasis on resolving criminal proceedings through plea bargains negatively impacts the integrity of the process by creating “perverse [...]

Genaro Garcia Luna, formerly the highest-ranking law enforcement official in Mexico, was convicted Tuesday by a federal jury in New York for assisting the Sinaloa drug cartel. Garcia Luna was formerly Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security from 2006-2012, effectively controlling Mexico’s Federal Police Force. Prior to 2006, Garcia Luna had been the head of Mexico’s [...]

The US Supreme Court Tuesday heard oral arguments in Gonzales v. Google, a case that could upend how social media companies handle content distribution. At the heart of the case is a question of whether tech giants like Google can face liability when their algorithm recommends ISIS recruitment videos. That said, the case also has broader [...]

A former Australian government lawyer Tuesday informed a royal commission that he withheld legal advice that the Robodebt scheme, an automated debt assessment and recovery method utilized by Services Australia from 2015 through 2019, was illegal. Former chief counsel for the Department of Social Services (DSS) Paul Menzies-McVey told the inquiry that he was aware [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday announced Russia will suspend its participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). The treaty represents the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia. Putin claimed the US wanted to “inflict a strategic defeat” on Russia and “climb on nuclear facilities.” A statement from the [...]

In response to the proposed reform of Israel’s judicial system, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Tuesday urged the country to halt its plans to overhaul the legal and judicial system over concerns of potential human rights violations. Türk’s announcement comes just one week after protestors gathered outside of the Knesset, Israel’s unicameral [...]

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg Tuesday called on railway transport company Norfolk Southern to comply with safety regulations and announced steps the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) will take to ensure railway industry safety and accountability. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also ordered Norfolk Southern to assume clean-up efforts following the East Palestine, Ohio [...]

The UN Security Council (UNSC) Monday adopted a presidential statement expressing its “deep concern and dismay” over Israel’s recent approval of further construction and expansion in the West Bank. The statement reportedly comes after intense US-led negotiations that watered down the final version from a draft resolution penned by the United Arab Emirates, which would [...]

The UK’s competition tribunal Monday rejected an application for a £2.3 billion class action  lawsuit which accused Facebook’s parent company Meta of “unfair trading conditions.” The Competition Appeal Tribunal decided that the application did not meet the standard of quality required for the class action to move forward. Dr. Liza Lovdahl Gormsen filed the application under [...]