President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye Thursday pardoned  four journalists who were imprisoned for “attempting to undermine state security.” The Head of the Information and Communications Division for the Office of the President, Willy Nyamitwe, tweeted Thursday that Ndayishimiye “has favorably responded” to a letter from journalists Agnès Ndirubusa, Christine Kamikazi, Egide Harerimana, and Térence Mpozenzi requesting a [...]

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Ripple Labs Inc., a leading cryptocurrency and blockchain firm, and two of its executives. The SEC alleges that Ripple raised over $1.38 billion through an unregistered offering of a digital asset security called “XRP.” The SEC filed the complaint before a federal district [...]

China’s market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation, announced Thursday that based on reports they have launched an investigation into billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holdings for “suspected monopolistic conduct.” The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and The People’s Bank of China have also called Alibaba’s [...]

Governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker Thursday vetoed the so-called ROE Act (“An Act to Remove Obstacles and Expand Abortion Access”) that seeks to codify the right to abortion and to expand access to abortion in the state. The governor indicated that he agreed with the codification of abortion rights but felt the Act went too [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Thursday affirmed a district court dismissal of a suit that sought to declare President Donald Trump the winner of the presidential election in Wisconsin. The suit alleged that Wisconsin violated the Electors Clause of the US Constitution. The president claimed that guidance released by Wisconsin voting [...]

India’s ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) says there is “no question of repealing” the new agricultural reform laws passed in September, despite ongoing protests by farmers’ unions. Thousands of farmers have been protesting outside New Delhi’s highways and outskirts for nearly five weeks against new laws which aim to increase private investment and bring efficiency [...]

A US federal judge in Maryland granted a temporary injunction against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday, temporarily blocking a proposed rule to reduce drug prices. The proposed “most favored nation” rule would require Medicare to reduce prices based on international prices for certain drugs, including cancer medication. Reducing drug prices [...]

Five Alaska Native tribes filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to challenge the Trump administration’s attempt to allow logging in the 17 million acre Tongass National Forest. The tribes are represented by nonprofits Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and are joined as plaintiffs by environmental groups, commercial fishing groups and tourism businesses. In [...]

EU and UK officials announced Thursday that a post-Brexit trade deal has been agreed. The deal follows four years of negotiations that ensued after the UK voted to leave the EU in a June 2016 referendum. At the press conference on the outcome of the EU-UK negotiations, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European [...]

A California federal judge has temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order banning diversity training for federal contractors in one of several lawsuits currently challenging the order’s constitutionality. Plaintiffs, a group of non-profit community organizations serving the LGBT community and those living with HIV, argued that Trump’s executive order unlawfully described their work as “anti-American propaganda.” [...]