New York City on Monday agreed to settle a 2010 lawsuit filed against the New York Police Department (NYPD) for issuing summonses without legal justification. The lawsuit regards approximately 900,000 summonses issued for quality-of-life crimes between 2007 and 2015 that were later dismissed for legal insufficiency. Plaintiffs had accused the NYPD of promoting the issuance [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday approved a $1.2 billion settlement with Volkswagen (VW) dealers. The 650 US dealers will receive payments over the course of 18 months. VW North American Chief Executive Officer Hinrich Woebcken said said the deal “is a very important step in [...]
The lawyer for ex-Panama dictator Manuel Noriega said Monday that a court has granted Noriega leave to prepare for brain surgery at home instead of in a hospital. Lawyer Ezra Angel had argued that Noriega should not be required to prepare in a prison or hospital, and that his home was the only place that [...]
Widows in Zimbabwe are routinely evicted from their land by relatives after the death of their husbands, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Tuesday. The report documents interviews with 59 widows, throughout all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe, conducted between May and October 2016. In 2013 Zimbabwe adopted a new constitution that protects [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday prohibited the merger of two major health insurance companies, Aetna and Humana . This comes after a Department of Justice (DOJ) decision that the $37 billion merger would inhibit competition and ultimately hurt customers. The DOJ sued in July in an [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a challenge to Alabama’s death penalty system. Alabama is the only state that allows judges to overrule juries and impose death sentences . This comes a year after the justices struck down a similar practice in Florida. A study by an Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative found [...]
US President Donald Trump on Monday reinstated a Reagan-era policy known as the Mexico City Policy that prevents foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from receiving US funding if they provide abortions or promote policies that may lead to abortions. Enacted by Ronald Reagan in 1984, the policy was subsequently repealed by Bill Clinton when he took [...]
US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Monday withdrawing the US from the Tran-Pacific Partnership (TPP) . The TPP, signed nearly a year ago, was a trade pact between the US and 11 Pacific Rim Nations, including Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand. The deal, which would have promoted trade between the US and the nations [...]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will be lifting restrictions on Israelis building settlements in East Jerusalem. The statement said “My vision is to enact sovereignty over all the settlements.” Immediately after the announcement, hundreds of building permits were approved by the municipal government. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu delayed lifting restrictions for two [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by Texas seeking to revive the state’s voter identification requirements. The Republican-backed law had been considered one of the strictest in the nation and had previously been contested in court by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) , civil rights groups and individual voters. [...]
