The US Supreme Court declined to review two cases on Monday about a state’s ability to defund Planned Parenthood. By denying certiorari in Andersen v. Planned Parenthood and Gee v. Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court let decisions from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Tenth Circuits stand. Both held that 42 USC § 1396a(a)(23)  allows Medicaid [...]

The Italian Court of Cassation, the nation’s highest court, on Wednesday ordered the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles to return a valuable Greek statue recovered by Italian fishermen and sold to the Getty Museum in 1977 for USD $4 million. “hree different judges have reaffirmed that the statue belongs to the Italian state [...]

The California Building Standards Commission approved a new rule Thursday requiring that all homes built in California after 2020 have the capacity to produce and process solar energy. The rule was first announced in May but faced backlash due to cost concerns as it could raise the average price of a new home in California [...]

Several fraternities and sororities at Harvard University sued the school on Monday for discrimination against their organizations. “The University … conducted a multi-year campaign to eliminate single-sex groups from campus life,” alleges the complaint. “Dean Khurana … excoriated as sexists, compared them to terrorists, and labeled them as traitors.” In a letter published during the [...]

Mahinda Rajapaksa, appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka last month, has been barred from taking office by a Colombo court’s order on Monday. The Appeals Court asked that he reappear by December 12 with justification for his taking office since Parliament voted against him twice and announced that no cabinet could function under him if [...]

Three Philippines police officers were convicted of murdering an innocent teenager, Kian Delos Santos, during a patrol in the Philippines’s ongoing war on drugs, and were sentenced to 40 years in prison each. They will not be eligible for parole. These are the first such convictions since sitting President Rodrigo Duterte, who vowed that he [...]

Australian Federal Police are investigating several SAS (Australian Special Forces) soldiers for allegedly committing war crimes in Afghanistan during Australia’s 12-year military involvement in the conflict. SAS insiders told the Sydney Morning Herald that “horrendous things” had occurred in Afghanistan. “Some just disgraceful things happened,” said the insider. “It was pretty much kept under wraps.” [...]

Sri Lanka Defense Chief of Ravindra Wijeguneratne has appeared in Colombo Magistrate Court after his arrest on Wednesday for aiding in the kidnapping of 11 teenagers during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war in early 2009. When the targeted group, the Tamil Tigers, could not pay the ransom, he is alleged to [...]

The US Supreme Court initiated its December sitting by hearing oral arguments in two cases Monday, including an antitrust claim against Apple. Apple v. Pepper involves third-party app developers’ concerns that Apple takes too large of a cut of the apps’ revenue and does not allow them to place their apps on competing platforms. Some [...]

The Belgrade Higher Court on Monday sentenced former Serb soldier Ranka Tomic to five years in prison for allegedly participating in the torture and execution of a Bosnian nurse during the 1992 war. While in this verdict some judges requested a seven-year sentence, Tomic instead received five years. She can appeal at an undisclosed time. [...]