SCANA Corporation and South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) reached a $2 billion settlement agreement on Saturday with plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit over the costs electric ratepayers have made towards the VC Summer nuclear power plant project. The lawsuit arose due to SCANA and SCE&G canceled construction of the VC Summer Units [...]

The Belgrade Higher Court on Monday sentenced former Serb soldier Ranka Tomic to five years in prison for allegedly participating in the torture and execution of a Bosnian nurse during the 1992 war. While in this verdict some judges requested a seven-year sentence, Tomic instead received five years. She can appeal at an undisclosed time. [...]

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday signed into law the National Minimum Wage Act, setting South Africa’s minimum wage at 20 rand (USD $1.45) an hour, equal to 3,500 rand per month. Such legislation is the first of its kind, as wages are generally set through collective bargaining in private sector councils or by [...]

In the recent voting, Massachusetts heartily defeated a referendum that would have rolled back state transgender protections. In 2004, Massachusetts was the first state to recognize marriage equality. Subsequently, the Commonwealth enacted legislation to advance protections for members of the LGBTQ community. In 2011, Massachusetts passed legislation protecting those who identify as non-straight from discrimination [...]

Voters in Switzerland rejected the Self-determination Initiative (also known as the “Swiss law, not foreign judges” initiative) on Sunday. The initiative was rejected in a vote of 33.8 percent for and 66.2 percent against the referendum. The initiative would have required an amendment to the Constitution that would require any conflicts between international agreements and [...]

The UN Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances said on Monday that “a new law against enforced disappearances in Lebanon can be a major breakthrough” and urged that the law be implemented effectively in order “to give victims and their families access to truth and justice.” The law was passed on November 13, 2018, [...]

The Trump administration on Friday petitioned the Supreme Court to allow several cases challenging the president’s bar on transgender people serving in the military to bypass federal appeals courts. The policy, which blocks individuals with gender dysphoria from serving, has been subject to numerous suits. Federal district courts have entered injunctions against the ban, but [...]

The Court of Justice of the European Union on Monday threw out a challenge to Brexit brought by 13 British citizens now residing in EU member countries. They were asking the court to nullify the decision of the EU to begin negotiations on Brexit because they and other expatriates, numbering over a million, were denied the [...]

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday called for a 60-day period of martial law, which would curtail public demonstrations, suspend elections and potentially implement required military service. The decree comes amid escalating tensions with Russia. This past weekend the Ukrainian Navy reported that sailors from three of its ships had been arrested by Russian forces [...]

Voters in Taiwan voted against same-sex marriage in a referendum that took place during local elections Saturday. The referendum asked voters whether they thought that marriage in their civil code should be defined as between one man and one woman, and a majority voted that it should. Voters also voted to have a different process [...]