Angola’s parliament approved a new penal code Wednesday that drops provisions widely interpreted to criminalize homosexuality. The new penal code is Angola’s first since it gained its independence from Portugal in 1975. The prior code contained many holdover provisions from the colonial era, including a ban of “vices against nature,” which was understood to criminalize [...]

A federal district judge in Arkansas on Wednesday upheld a state law prohibiting state entities from entering into contracts with companies for goods or services unless those companies certify in writing that they are not currently engaged in, nor will they engage in for the duration of their contract, a “boycott of Israel.” The Arkansas [...]

The Supreme Court of Kenya ruled on Thursday that schools can regulate their dress codes to ensure uniform compliance. This ruling overturns a 2016 court of appeals decision that affirmed Muslim girls could wear hijab and trousers at school “as a manifestation, practice and observance of their religion consistent with Article 32 of the Constitution [...]

The Supreme Court of Mississippi on Thursday declined to overturn the loss-of-a-chance precedent used in medical malpractice cases. The court’s decision upheld a trial judge’s dismissal and summary judgment ruling in a case that accused Anderson Regional Medical Center’s nurses of failure to recognize and react to a patient’s stroke symptoms. This oversight resulted in [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU of Arizona) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Arizona for denying a transgender state employee health coverage for gender reassignment surgery. The plaintiff, Russell Toomey, is an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona who participates in the state’s self-funded health plan. Toomey claims that by denying [...]

A Ukrainian court on Thursday sentenced former president Viktor Yanukovych to 13 years in prison after finding him guilty of treason for a 2014 crackdown on pro-Western demonstrations. In 2014 Yanukovych spiked an association agreement with the EU in favor of retaining close ties with Russia. This sparked massive protests and police crackdown that killed [...]

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Thursday announced the elimination of a rule enacted by the Obama administration that required large employers to file individual incident reports for workplace accidents and injuries. Under the prior rule companies with more than 250 employees were required to file two electronic forms, Form 300 and [...]

Activists and victims of war crimes in Nepal have urged the government to not proceed with proposed amendments to a law that governs the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The twin probes are supposed to “investigate the facts about those involved in gross violations of [...]

The Greek Parliament voted 153-146 Friday to ratify an agreement to rename Macedonia. The approval renames Greece’s northern neighbor the “Republic of North Macedonia,” and essentially clears a path for the country to join NATO, and possibly the EU. This agreement comes after months of intense street protests in both countries. Greece has historically held that by using [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called Friday for investigations into violence including deaths during protests in Venezuela. On Wednesday, leader of the opposition and National Assembly head, Juan Guaido, declared himself acting president of Venezuela. On the same day, US President Donald Trump released a statement recognizing Guaido as Interim President of [...]