The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held Tuesday that a life insurance benefit administrator may choose to define “spouse” in a way that encompasses “domestic partner.” The decedent, Terry Engle, had life insurance and accidental death insurance from Unum Life Insurance Company of America, via his employer, Land O’Lakes, Inc. Engle did [...]

A Scottish Court of Sessions Judge ruled Wednesday Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament was legal. The decision by Lord Doherty came a day after British lawmakers voted to prevent Johnson from ending negotiations between Britain and the EU without a deal, sparking calls for an election. The petition originated from a group [...]

Google and YouTube agreed Wednesday to pay $170 million in order to settle with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New York Attorney General. The settlement arises out of allegations made by both the FTC and the New York Attorney General that the companies violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting [...]

British lawmakers on Tuesday voted to prevent Prime Minister Boris Johnson from taking the country out of the EU without a formal agreement, pushing Britain to call for a new election. The lawmakers forced Johnson’s hand by voting by 328 to 301 to take control of Parliament away from the government and vote on legislation [...]

A North Carolina state court on Tuesday ruled the state’s legislative districts, drawn by Republican lawmakers, deprived citizens of their right to vote and were described as the result of “extreme partisan gerrymandering.” A three-judge panel found that by using their control of the General Assembly, defendants “manipulated district boundaries, to the greatest extent possible, [...]

The secretary to the Sri Lankan president said Monday that the country’s Supreme Court has ruled against holding provincial council elections in the absence of a report by the delimitations review committee. President Maithripala Sirisena had, in an invocation of the Supreme Court’s consultative jurisdiction under Article 129 of Sri Lanka’s constitution, asked the court [...]

Former first lady of Guatemala and presidential candidate Sandra Torres was arrested on Monday in her home near Guatemala City for breaking campaign finance rules and for unlawful association. Torres and her political party, National Unity of Hope (UNE), have called the arrest politically motivated. Torres has thrice run unsuccessfully for the presidency of Guatemala. [...]

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday ordered prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to reconsider her choice to not charge Israel for their raid on a flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. On May 31, 2010, Israeli Defence Forces attacked a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid, resulting in the death of eight Turks [...]

A UN panel reported Tuesday that the US, UK and French governments may be complicit in war crimes for their assistance to the Saudi-led coalition that is attacking and starving civilians in Yemen as a military tactic. The panel’s report, drawn from interviews with more than 600 victims and witnesses involved with the half-decade long [...]

A group of British members of Parliament proposed a bill Monday to prevent Prime Minister Boris Johnson from exiting the EU without a negotiated deal that they plan on bringing for a vote on Tuesday. The text of the bill, titled the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill of 2019, was released on Twitter by [...]