The UK House of Commons on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to withdraw the country from the EU. The plan was defeated by a margin of 230 votes, with 432 Members of Parliament voting no and only 202 voting in the affirmative, marking the largest defeat for a sitting government proposal in [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted an injunction in the jurisdictions that challenged new rules that would have made it easier for an employer to opt-out of providing health insurance that cover female birth control. The rules were scheduled to go into effect Monday. The injunction is [...]
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court on Monday ordered the release of Colombian Yilen Osorio, a member of the United Nation’s International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) which is charged with investigating allegations of corruption in the country. Osorio had been held in detention at the La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City since his arrival on Saturday. For the past decade, the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Wednesday ruled against junior shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who challenged the Treasury Department’s right to all profits in perpetuity after bailing the institutions out during the 2008 financial crisis. The case dates back to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which, [...]
The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday against Dutch company Levola in its attempt to copyright the taste of a spreadable cheese product it produces, finding that the taste of a food product is not eligible for copyright protection. The case began over a decade ago when a Dutch food retailer created the spreadable dip Heksenkaas (commonly referred [...]
The Supreme Court of Hawaii on Tuesday cleared the way for astronomers to build one of the largest telescopes in the world on Mauna Kea by dismissing a legal challenge of native Hawaiians aimed at blocking the project. Justice McKenna, writing for the court’s majority in the 4-1 decision, dismissed the appellant’s claims that “Mauna Kea, as [...]
The German Federal Court of Justice ruled in a judgment published Tuesday that the wife of a mother is not automatically deemed the legal co-parent of a newborn child, finding that the paternity law of the German Civil Code only applies to male-female couples. The matter at hand involves a same-sex couple who had been in [...]
Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, expressed grave concern on Tuesday regarding the treatment of human rights defenders, as more than 1,000 have been killed between 2015 and 2017. In the latest report on the situation of human rights defenders issued earlier this year, Forst praised the work that has been done [...]
A judge for the Superior Court of California County of San Francisco on Monday upheld a jury verdict finding Monsanto liable in the case of a groundskeeper who claims to have developed cancer as a result of prolonged use of Monsanto products, but reduced the amount of damages from $298 million to $78 million. The plaintiff, Dwayne Johnson, a former pest [...]
Sears Holdings Corporation (Holdings) filed for bankruptcy in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday, announcing that it intends to remain in business but will close at least 142 stores by the end of the year. Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, filed a petition for debt relief [...]
