Amnesty International on Friday demanded an investigation based upon findings of human rights abuses including torture by the Hong Kong Police. Amnesty’s report focuses specifically on police brutality during arrests stemming from recent mass protests. “Interviews of arrested persons and lawyers by Amnesty International show that police violence most commonly occurred before and during arrest. [...]
California Governor Gavin Newson signed legislation Thursday aimed at protecting so-called “gig economy” employees. Assembly Bill No. 5 is expected to impact drivers for ride share apps such as Uber and Lyft. However, the legislation also can affect other independent employees. The legislation has amended Section 621 of the Unemployment Insurance Code to define an [...]
The High Court of Paris (le Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris) ruled Tuesday that digital games purchased on the gaming platform Steam can be resold. The practice of reselling physical copies of games has been the norm for years. Valve, the publisher of Steam’s platform, sought to distinguish digital copies from physical copies to [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the city of Troy, Michigan, violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied the Adam Community Center’s application for a zoning variance to operate as a place of worship. The complaint, filed in the US District [...]
President Donald Trump on Thursday continued efforts to prevent access to his tax returns by asking a federal judge in New York to block criminal prosecutors from accessing his tax documents. The Manhattan District Attorney recently subpoenaed Trump’s accountants, requesting eight years worth of state and federal returns. The records were requested as part of [...]
US President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Robert O’Brien, current top hostage negotiator, will be named as the new National Security Advisor. This comes following the firing of John Bolton from the post last week. This will be Trump’s fourth National Security Advisor, following Bolton, Michael Flynn, and HR McMaster. O’Brien was recently involved with [...]
US District Judge Lawrence Piersol issued a temporary injunction on Wednesday, blocking a recently enacted South Dakota anti-riot act. The act was drafted by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in anticipation of protests against the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, slated to start in 2020. The court adopted the defendant’s suggestion of intermediate [...]
The Trump administration announced Thursday that it is revoking California’s waiver to issue its own vehicle emission standards. California’s Clean Air Act waiver was issued by the Obama administration in 2013 and allowed the state to set emission requirements for new automobiles sold in the state independent of the federal EPA’s promulgated requirements. Since automakers [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that Arizona does not have to provide death-row inmates with detailed information regarding the drugs to be used in their executions and the qualifications of execution team members. Plaintiffs are seven Arizona death-row inmates and the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, a non-profit organization [...]
The rate of abortion in the US has dropped significantly since the procedure’s legalization in 1973, according to a report released Wednesday. The Guttmacher Institute, the research group responsible for the study, found that the bulk of the decline happened between 2014 and 2017. The states that saw the largest decline were Delaware, Arkansas, West [...]