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. [...]

Attorney General William Barr’s decision directing the Bureau of Prisons to resume execution of inmates sentenced to death by the federal government is so inconsistent with recent developments with respect to the death penalty that it makes plain how the action is driven more by electoral politics than public safety or penal policy. Nine states [...]

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 Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States on Thursday denied petitions for review of misconduct complaints against former DC Circuit Judge and current US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The dismissed complaints alleged that Kavanaugh displayed bias and hostility during his 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearings. The [...]

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 [...]

In the wake of Special Counsel Mueller’s largely uneventful testimony Wednesday, no-one can envy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment dilemma. Presented with ample evidence of offenses justifying President Trump’s removal (the appalling violations of immigrants’ human rights are sufficient on their own) she also knows that no matter what he has done and no matter [...]

A federal judge ruled on Monday that the state of Nevada cannot join in litigation against an Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision mandating employers to offer birth control to employees. Nevada attempted to intervene as a defendant in order to defend the provision. Originally, private citizens and companies sued the Department of Health and Human [...]

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 US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement agreement Wednesday with wholesale produce company Pete Pappas & Sons in regard to violations of the Immigrant and Nationality Act (INA). The antidiscrimination issue started when Pappas & Sons human resources required a new employee, who was a refugee, to produce more citizenship documentation than a [...]