China’s Supreme People’s Protectorate announced Sunday that it has opened an investigation into the causes of an August 12 explosion in Tianjin. The government has also ordered nationwide inspections of facilities that hold the types of chemicals involved in the explosion. It further announced regulations , which it said had been in place since August [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday submitted a sealed document in opposition to the habeas corpus petition of Tariq Ba Odah, despite a 2009 government security review that cleared Ba Odah for transfer. In a public disclosure, the US government reported it “remains committed to promptly securing an appropriate location to which petitioner [...]

Last week the US Department of Justice challenged the constitutionality of a Boise, Idaho city ordinance that criminalizes sleeping in public places by the homeless. The federal government’s argument relies on the fact that everyone needs to sleep and by criminalizing the act of sleeping the law criminalizes homelessness itself. For the estimated half million [...]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced that a former software executive at SAP SE (SAP) , Vincente E. Garcia, agreed to settle charges filed against him for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing Panamanian government officials to secure software license deals. Garcia carried out the bribes through an intermediary [...]

The US Department of Commerce on Friday agreed to allow limited crude oil trading with Mexico, easing a ban on crude exports that has been in place for 40 years. Members of the US Congress was informed by the Department of Commerce that it plans to approve an application by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) , Mexico’s [...]

A Kentucky county clerk on Friday again appealed the ruling of a federal judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ordering her to resume issuing marriage licenses. Following the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges in June, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis has refused to issue marriage licenses [...]

A Colorado state appeals court ruled on Thursday that a baker violated Colorado’s public accommodations law when he refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The baker, Jack Phillips, refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, claiming that creating the cake would violate his rights to free speech and [...]

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Thursday that a state law banning executions for future sentences, but allowing them for past sentences is unconstitutional. Writing for the court, Justice Richard Palmer said imposing the sentence on existing inmates when it has been outlawed for future use constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of [...]

The Supreme Court of Washington on Thursday ordered the state to pay a fine of $100,000 per day for each day that it fails to comply with a previous court ruling mandating adequate funding of public schools. In 2012, the Washington court ruled that education is the state’s “paramount duty” and mandated the legislature implement [...]

The Greek Parliament on Friday approved a three-year bailout package for about 85 billion Euros ($93 billion) just days before the country is due to repay debt to the European Central Bank. Without a bailout package, Greece could default on the payment. The bill, which was passed by 222 of 300 members, also places spending [...]