G7 leaders and EU foreign ministers Monday held several meetings to discuss the implementation of new sanctions against Iran and economic support for Ukraine in the country’s ongoing war against Russia. EU foreign ministers adopted a new round of sanctions against Iran and discussed, but did not yet adopt, further sanctions against Russia. G7 leaders [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Monday issued a one-page order staying a lower court’s preliminary injunction of a New York law which restricts gun possession on private property. The court is in the process of setting an expedited briefing schedule to hear an appeal filed by defendant and Superintendent of the New [...]
EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell called for calm on Monday amid violence across Kosovo’s ethnic Serbian north. Recent political flashpoints have reignited decades of tensions between minority Serbs and majority Kosovo Albanians. Borrell ordered, “arricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs. Calm must be restored.” He also demanded that all parties [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday granted certiorari to hear a second challenge to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The court asked the parties to brief and argue whether the borrowers suing to block the program have Article III standing, and whether the Department of Education’s (DOE) plan is “statutorily authorized and was adopted [...]
The judiciary of Iran Monday announced the execution of protester Majidreza Rahnavard, who was hanged publicly in Mashhad. Rahnavard was arrested 23 days ago, following his involvement with the nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. According to Mizan, a state-linked news source for Iran’s judiciary, the Mashhad Revolutionary Court convicted Rahnavard of killing two [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday declined to hear an appeal in Balow v. Michigan State University, which asked whether disbanding the varsity women’s swim team was discriminatory and violated Title IX. In 2020, Michigan State University (MSU) discontinued its varsity women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams due to budget cuts. Members of the women’s [...]
Japan’s House of Councillors Saturday passed a law to tighten restrictions on the solicitation of donations by religious and secular groups. The legislation is intended to prevent Japan’s controversial Unification Church, or the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, from using emotional manipulation to garner donations. Under the law, organizations also cannot ask potential benefactors [...]
Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service told the BBC on Sunday that Libyan national Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is in US custody. Mas’ud was allegedly involved in making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. A spokesperson said the Crown Office has [...]
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake Friday filed a lawsuit against Arizona election officials challenging the certification of November 8 election results naming Katie Hobbs the Governor-elect. Lake’s lawsuit expressly names Hobbs, Stephen Richer of the Maricopa County Recorder and other officials in Maricopa County as defendants. In the complaint Lake argues that she “eceived [...]
A Hong Kong district court Saturday sentenced pro-democracy activist and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai to almost six years of imprisonment on fraud charges. Lai is already serving a 20-month prison sentence in Hong Kong for his participation in a vigil commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Lai also has a separate trial still [...]