The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims that Disney stole her idea for the characters in Inside Out that represent emotions. The plaintiff, Denise Daniels, had started a business called The Moodsters Company, marketing eponymous characters that [...]

The Afghan government delayed the release of Taliban prisoners on Saturday after disagreements occurred over the number of detainees to be released and uncertainty about whether the prisoners would return to fighting. The Taliban agreed to talks with the Afghan government after signing an accord with the US. The accord ended 18 years of US [...]

The Autorité de la concurrence, France’s antitrust regulator, issued a USD $1.2 billion fine for Apple on Monday, citing the company’s anticompetitive practices in dealing with two of its wholesalers. The wholesalers, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, were also issued fines in the tens of millions. In a press release published Monday, the agency stated [...]

The Russian Constitutional Court released a 52-page decision Monday approving amendments to the constitution, including an amendment that would allow Vladimir Putin to serve up to two additional terms as president. The current constitution imposes a two-term limit to the presidency, and Putin has put forward a series of amendments, one of which would reset [...]

Iran has temporarily released about 85,000 prisoners from jail as part of their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said about half of those released were political prisoners. Today’s mass release follows the release of some 70,000 prisoners on March 9, none of whom were political prisoners. In response to the earlier [...]

The US House of Representatives passed a revised version of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act Monday with unanimous consent. The resolution will now be sent to the Senate to be considered for a vote as the government attempts to manage the COVID-19 outbreak. The revised emergency coronavirus relief package outlined technical corrections to the [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion on Monday to drop all charges against two Russian shell corporations accused of interfering with the 2016 presidential election. The motion states, “the government has concluded that further proceedings promote[] neither the interests of justice nor the nation’s security.” The DOJexplained that, “sometimes in a criminal [...]

The Ohio Department of Health on Monday ordered that all polling locations close on Tuesday amid coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns. Amy Acton, Director of the Ohio Department of Health, enacted this order to “avoid the imminent threat” of COVID-19 as the virus poses a “significant risk of substantial harm to a large number of people in [...]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared a statewide judicial emergency on Monday due to the outbreak of COVID-19. County president judges are now able to declare judicial emergencies in their counties, which allows them to use technology to conduct court proceedings or temporarily close their doors. The Court deems it necessary for the Pennsylvania Judiciary to [...]

Airlines for America (A4A), the trade group for the US airline industry, on Monday asked for nearly $60 billion in direct assistance and loan guarantees as airlines worldwide struggle amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spread. A4A stated that because the current economic environment is simply not sustainable, and the crisis does not appear to have [...]