William Morva was executed by lethal injection Thursday after supporters failed to convince Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to grant him clemency because of a mental illness. Morva, a US Hungarian national, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a hospital security guard and a Sheriff’s deputy in 2008. A court-appointed psychiatrist diagnosed [...]

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Italy’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill on Wednesday to outlaw certain forms of torture. The new law defines torture as “acts, single or repeated, causing suffering and trauma such as to harm the dignity of a person, already deprived of their liberty” by a public official or anyone else responsible for the victim’s well-being. [...]

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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief Thursday urging a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas to dismiss a challenge to changes to Texas’ 2011 voter ID law , which was found to be discriminatory against minority voters . The DOJ argued that Texas’ Senate Bill 5 [...]

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The Constitutional Court of Spain ruled Wednesday that provisions of the Catallan budget that allocated funds to the upcoming independence referendum are illegal. The court held that any funds allocated to financing the October 1 referendum are unconstitutional and therefore void. The ruling aligned with the Madrid government’s strong opposition to Catalian independence. The Spanish [...]

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The EU and Japan formally agreed upon an outline on Thursday for a free-trade deal between two of the world’s largest economic powers. Although the deal still requires further negotiations, it is expected that 99 percent of trade deals between Japan and the EU will be liberalized. Additionally, the outline calls for the two entities [...]

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The New Zealand Parliament on Thursday formally apologized to the hundreds of men who were criminally convicted under antiquated anti-homosexuality laws. The country’s House of Representatives stated that it apologizes “to those homosexual New Zealanders who were convicted for consensual adult activity, and recognize the tremendous hurt and suffering those men and their families have [...]

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Thursday that South Africa violated its obligation by failing to arrest Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir when he visited the country in 2015. Two arrest warrants have been issued for Al-Bashir involving numerous charges including “crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of genocide.” South Africa contended that because Al-Bashir [...]

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