The UN Independent Expert on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye , on Thursday urged the Sri Lankan government to better protect minorities following the civil war. Izsák-Ndiaye advised that for true change to take place a concerted effort must be put into creating “a comprehensive, well-planned and well-coordinated truth” as well as measures to improve accountability. [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye said Thursday that governments are “wielding the tools of censorship” and cautioned that “the freedom of expression is under the widespread assault.” He discussed how countries throughout the world are passing laws that not only [...]
The Spanish Constitutional Court on Thursday overturned the bullfighting ban in Catalonia. The court reasoned that governmental intrusion into state ordered and sponsored entertainment undermines individual states’ rights to maintain common cultural heritage—bullfighting is considered “common cultural heritage” by law. The court noted that bullfighting has an undeniable presence in the social fabric and reality [...]
The Gujarat High Court on Thursday acquitted 14 of the 31 individuals convicted of burning more than 30 people to death in the 2002 post-Godhra Sardarpura massacre, while maintaining the sentences of the rest. The High Court Justices Harsha Devani and Biren Vaishnav ruled that there was insufficient evidence to maintain the convictions of those [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled Wednesday that Ohio must allow most unlawfully purged voters to vote in November. In September the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down the procedure implemented by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted that effectively eliminated inactive registered [...]
Advocate General Nils Wahl of the European Court of Justice issued an opinion on Thursday in favor of Intel in the dispute over a €1.06 billion EU antitrust fine imposed for anti-competitive behavior. Wahl questioned whether the fine received for abuse of Intel’s dominant position, namely in giving rebates to customers and certain deals made [...]
The government of Scotland announced Thursday it has published a draft bill for a second referendum that would give the country the opportunity to consider independence from the UK. The government explained the move was made to “protect Scotland’s interests in light of the UK vote to leave the EU.” However, it would be up [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Wednesday that a website operator is legally permitted to store visitors’ Internet protocol addresses (IP addresses) because they have a legitimate interest in protecting themselves against cyber attacks. Under EU law, personal information can be processed if it is necessary to accomplish a legitimate objective and if it [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Wednesday that Germany’s price floor for prescription drugs violates free trade. Germany currently has a statutory scheme for medical insurance in which patients pay some out of pocket for prescriptions. However, foreign medical providers, such as Dutch pharmacies, found loopholes around the statutory scheme in order to pay [...]
A court in Iran on Tuesday sentenced two US citizens to 10 years in prison following convictions on charges that they spied and “cooperated” with the US. Siamak Namazi, a businessman, and his elderly father, Baquer Namazi, both have dual citizenship with Iran. The New York Times reported on Monday that the businessman was seized [...]
