The Philippines recognizes the need to calibrate its regulatory policies to encourage the entry of new and emerging technology and to foster an innovative mindset among key stakeholders in the technology sector. To incentivize innovation in the financial sphere, Philippine authorities have adopted regulatory sandboxes that aim to provide businesses in the financial sector with [...]
A Saudi Arabia court on Monday convicted eight individuals in connection with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The court overturned the previous death sentences of five of the individuals, sentencing them to 20 years in prison instead. Two of the individuals were sentenced to 10 years, and one was sentenced to seven years. Khashoggi, [...]
A US Marine convicted of killing a transgender woman in the Philippines was released from prison Monday after President Rodrigo Duterte granted him an absolute pardon. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced the decision on Twitter, stating that the president was “cutting matters short” by releasing Lance Corporal Joseph Pemberton. The pardon, which comes five [...]
US District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amit Mehta ruled Friday that the Trump administration should resume issuing diversity visas to immigrants from underrepresented countries. The ruling partially lifted a freeze on a wide range of immigrant and temporary visa processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The freeze was enacted in June, which [...]
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday exempting two dozen professions from last year’s historic rewrite of California employment law that limited use of independent contractors. The amendments to last year’s bill, effective immediately, include exemptions for artists, promoters and distributers of sound recordings, and cosmetologists. These exemptions fall into the state’s ongoing effort [...]
The Mississippi Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss four murder charges against Curtis Flowers on Friday because it did not have sufficient evidence of Flowers’ guilt. Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Joseph Loper granted the motion, ending a process that had led to six jury trials of Flowers over more than a decade, and might [...]
US District Judge Lucy Koh Saturday granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s new plans to wind down all US Census counting efforts by September 31, instead of the previously announced October 31st date. US Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham announced the earlier end date in August despite strenuous criticism from rights groups. [...]
In a 9-6 decision Thursday, the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s permanent injunction against a Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that would prohibit doctors and clinics that participate in the Title X program from referring patients for an abortion, even if that is what the patient wants. The so-called [...]
On Friday, US federal judge Laurie J. Michelson temporarily granted in part a restraining order against the City of Detroit as regards its police department’s use of certain tactics on peaceful protestors, including: Use of striking weapons, chemical agents, or rubber bullets Placing in a chokehold or ramming with a vehicle Tightening zip ties or handcuffs [...]
Voting rights advocates filed a motion Friday asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to review a superior court decision which denied them a preliminary injunction in a critical voting rights case. At issue is the decision by some counties in North Carolina to use ExpressVote voting machines for the November election. The plaintiffs in the [...]
