The US Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit  ruled  Wednesday that Arizona ballot collection laws did not violate the First, Fourteenth and Fifteenth  Amendments or Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act . The election practices at issue were Arizona’s requirement for people who cast votes in-person to do so in the precinct they were assigned, [...]

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that the UK’s bulk interception program violated Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, the article pertaining to the respect of private life. The court held that the bulk interception program violated Article 8: as there was insufficient oversight both of the selection of Internet [...]

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order  Wednesday directing federal agencies to investigate instances of interference with US elections and to take measures against those involved. The executive order instructs the Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to spearhead and coordinate an assessment of foreign nationals and [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled  Wednesday that the Department of Education unlawfully delayed the implementation of William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The loan program (otherwise referred to as “Borrower Defense Regulations”) was created in November 2016. The purpose was to help protect students from predatory lending practices. The California Association of [...]

Five members of a New Mexico compound were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on possession of firearms and conspiracy charges. The indictment alleges that the defendants created a training camp in their Amalia, New Mexico, compound to prepare minors for planned violent attacks on public institutions. The defendants moved from Georgia to New [...]

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit signed a peace deal with rebel groups on Wednesday to bring an end to a seven-year-long civil war in the country which killed at least 50,000 people and made 2 million more homeless. Mediated by neighboring Sudan, the deal includes power-sharing structures, a reformed banking and military structure, and [...]

Lise Grande , head UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said Thursday that the “situation has deteriorated dramatically in the past few days,” and “hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance,” in the port city of Hodeida. Hodeida is Yemen’s principal port on the Red Sea and the chief entry point for food imports. [...]

Lawmakers in Chile on Wednesday passed  a gender identity law that allows transgender people over 14 to legally change their name and sex markers on official documents. The law passed in a 95-46 vote after five years of discussion. As a result, transgender people in Chile who are over the age of 14 can change [...]

The EU Parliament  approved a controversial new copyright directive  on Wednesday that could force sites like Google and Facebook to install filters to prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded. The final vote was 438 in favor and 226 against. The main controversy stems from Articles 11 and 13. Article 11 has allowed authors to have their [...]

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. dropped  3,042 marijuana charges on Tuesday, saying it is “one small step toward addressing the decades of racial disparities behind the enforcement of marijuana in New York City.” The charges dropped were misdemeanor possession and smoking charges dating back to as early as 1978. Charges that showed chances of “sale [...]