Pastor Wang Yi of an unregistered house church in Chengdu, China was convicted of subversion on Monday and sentenced to nine years in prison. This sentence followed a secret trial at the Chengdu Intermediate Court on December 26. In December 2018, around 100 students and seminary leaders from Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu were [...]

A Denver County Court judge ruled on Friday that Denver’s ordinance banning urban camping violates the Eighth Amendment. In his opinion, Judge Johnny C. Barajas wrote that the ordinance specifically violates the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, which “imposes substantive limits on what can be made criminal and punished as such.” The court cited a [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found on Friday that the District Court for the Eastern District of New York erred in sentencing Fareed Mumuni to 17 years of imprisonment rather than the 85 years recommended by federal guidelines. Mumuni, an American-born citizen, pledged allegiance to ISIS and pleaded guilty in February [...]

On Thursday Chile’s Environmental Court ruled in favor of indigenous complaints that had been brought against SQM. SQM is the world’s second-largest miner of lithium. They had planned for expansion but the expansion plans caused questions about Chile’s northern desert’s ability to handle the level of production. The court put emphasis on how frail the [...]

Washington State’s Supreme Court held that drivers must use their turn signals every time they turn or change lanes. The decision comes after an incident that occurred on March 22, 2015. Defendant, David Brown, entered into a left turn lane at a stop light. However, when he went to turn, he did not reactivate his [...]

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act on Tuesday, making Illinois the 11th state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. As of January 1, 2020, any adult over 21 years of age will be able to legally purchase cannabis for personal use from the licensed dispensaries across Illinois. The law [...]

US District Judge Richard Berman on Thursday denied a request to stop federal prosecution of Turkey’s state-run Halkbank which alleges its aid in Iran’s evasion of US economic sanctions. The decision was a response to claims that Halkbank used money servicers and front companies in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to facilitate conspiracies [...]

The Georgia Supreme Court overturned on Monday an appellate court ruling dismissing a suit brought against a medical clinic by patients whose data had been stolen by hackers. In June 2016 a criminal hacking group known as Dark Overlord stole the private data, including names, addresses, and social security numbers, of 200,000 patients from Athens [...]

Liberia’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that parts of the country’s Aliens and Nationality Law were unconstitutional. The case was brought when Alvin Jalloh, a Liberian-born citizen who had obtained dual Liberian-American citizenship, was denied entry into the country without first obtaining a non-immigrant visa. Section 22.2 of the Aliens and Nationality Law allows the citizenship [...]

On Friday President Trump signed the SECURE Act into law. This changes the landscape of retirement by making it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans for their employees. It also raises the minimum age of fund distribution for retirement to 72. The Act also makes it easier for new parents to remove funds [...]