The US Food and Drug Administration issued updated guidance on Thursday, amending restrictions so that certain blood donor groups are now subject to a three month waiting period instead of a 12 month deferral. This guidance was issued in an attempt to address the blood supply shortage that has emerged due to the coronavirus pandemic. [...]

A jury in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York on Friday found attorney Michael Avenatti guilty of attempted extortion, honest services wire fraud, and transmission of interstate communications with intent to extort. These crimes were related to communications between Avenatti and Nike. Avenatti was representing an amateur athletic coach who [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday ruled that Dr Pepper did not violate California consumer fraud laws by using the word “diet” in its brand name. The complaint stated that consumers were promised by the diet label that the product “would ‘assist in weight loss’ or at least ‘not cause [...]

The Shenzhen Nanshan District People’s Court on Monday convicted and sentenced researcher He Jiankui and two collaborators, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, for carrying out human embryo gene-editing and reproductive medical activities. In a closed court session, the trio were criticized for illegal medical practices and violations of regulations and ethical standards related to their [...]

Groups including Brazil’s Human Rights Advocacy Collective and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for Human Rights on Wednesday submitted a written recommendation to Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), reporting the need for a preliminary examination into genocide and systematic attacks against indigenous people by President Jair Messias Bolsonaro in [...]

The Ohio House on Wednesday passed HB 164, titled the “Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019.” If enacted into law, this bill would protect students’ religious expressions in schools, whether they are students in public, STEM, community, or college-preparatory boarding schools. It would also ensure that activities involving religious expression are treated in the “same [...]

The nation’s biggest private coal mining company, Murray Energy Holdings Co., and 98 affiliated debtors on Tuesday filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division. The company had entered into forbearance agreements on October 2 to hold outstanding loans under Superpriority Credit and Guaranty Agreement, with the forbearance [...]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday ordered an en banc rehearing of DC and Maryland v. Trump. The same court in July reversed and remanded a district court’s discovery instructions for potential Emoluments Clause violations. The violations at issue concern profits related to foreign government officials from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled Tuesday that some of the Affordable Care Act‘s nondiscrimination rules based on gender identity and termination of pregnancy violate providers’ religious freedom. Judge Reed O’Connor found that these rules, included to prevent health care discrimination, violated the Administrative Procedure Act and [...]

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Tuesday that prohibits law enforcement officers from using facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technologies in police-worn cameras. The bill outlines concerns related to the guaranteed right to privacy under the California Constitution. The bill equates facial recognition technologies as functionally equivalent to “requiring every person to [...]