Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday suspended lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha after being suspected of obstructing investigations into his allegedly corrupt activities. Cunha currently faces corruption charges for taking bribes from companies trying to secure oil contracts. He is well known for playing a heavy role in launching the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff. [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday advised North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory via letter that the state’s recently passed House Bill 2 , violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta stated that the bill specifically violates Title VII by denying certain employees the right to access bathrooms and [...]

A group of more than 750 detainees held on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea asked the Australian High Court on Wednesday to order their transfer to mainland Australia and block a transfer to the detention center in the island nation of Nauru. The move comes after the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruled last [...]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced the finalization of a new rule that extends its regulatory power to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars and more. The new rule reportedly strengthens the implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (TCA) and helps the FDA enforce regulations [...]

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Thursday rejected Islamist leader Motiur Rahman Nizami’s final appeal of his death sentence for war crimes committed in the country’s war for independence against Pakistan in 1971. Nizami’s conviction was made final on charges of genocide, murder, torture and rape. A war crimes tribunal, established in 2010, convicted Nizami [...]

The Beijing Municipal High People’s Court ruled on Wednesday that Xintong Tiandi (XT), a local leather goods retailer, can continue to use the phrase “iPhone” on its leather goods. According to the Legal Daily, the official newspaper of the China Justice Ministry , the Beijing court placed much weight on the fact that XT filed [...]

The EU Court of Justice on Wednesday upheld EU rules that will require health warnings to cover 65 percent of a cigarette pack. The rules, approved by the EU Parliament in 2014, also ban the advertising of e-cigarettes. Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco had challenged the rules, arguing that the EU was overstepping [...]

Louisiana’s Senate voted 34-4 Tuesday to approve legislation that would extend the current 24-hour abortion waiting period to 72 hours. Supporters have hailed the legislation as an attempt to give women more time to make the decision to abort, while opponents claim it is a thinly veiled attempt to increase barriers for women seeking abortion. [...]

Federal prosecutors in Brazil have filed a civil lawsuit against mining companies Vale SA BHP Billiton Ltd. worth 155 billion reais (USD $43.55 billion) for a November dam collapse that killed 19 people and polluted more than 400 miles of the Rio Doce basin. The suit comes after a six-month investigation including both state and [...]

Brazilian local media reported Tuesday that the country’s top prosecutors have requested an investigation into President Dilma Rousseff over alleged connections to the Petrobras corruption scandal. Though Rousseff has spoken against the accusations and threatened legal action, prosecutors claim that she attempted to obstruct the investigation of those involved in the oil firm corruption scandal. [...]