The Parliament of Catalonia voted Thursday to hold an independence referendum next September. This move has exacerbated tensions with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy , whose party has consistently rejected Catalan’s attempts at independence. Following the vote, the Constitutional Court of Spain said it is considering a suit against the Catalonian speaker of the parliament [...]
Pakistani lawmakers voted unanimously Thursday to strengthen the penalties for those convicted of murder in connection to honor killings. The new law provides for mandatory life imprisonment , even if the family of the victim forgave the convicted killer. During the same parliamentary session, lawmakers approved a law providing a mandatory 25-year sentence for rape [...]
Three transgender students in the Pine-Richland school district in Western Pennsylvania filed suit Thursday against the school district for their decision to implement gender specific restrooms. After months of deliberation, the school district decided last month to return to the practice of maintaining gender specific restrooms. Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, attorney with Lambda Legal , stated that [...]
The Zambian Police on Wednesday arrested two leaders of the United Party for National Development (UPND) , the main opposition party. Hakainde Hichilema, president of UPND, and his deputy Geoffrey Mwamba were arrested for suspicions of sedition in part due to their claims that the election that re-elected President Edgar Lungu in August was fraudulent [...]
The Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) criticized UN peacekeepers in South Sudan Wednesday for their failure to protect civilians during an outbreak of fighting in the country that took place in July. The report released by the human rights group describes how the parties to the conflict, “killed and injured civilians in displaced persons [...]
The threshold for entry into force of the Paris Agreement on combatting climate change was achieved on Wednesday. The threshold of 55 parties making up more than 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions triggered the entry into force of the agreement in 30 days. The signatories to the agreement include both large and small [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington ruled Tuesday that four former high-ranking Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials must testify in depositions in a lawsuit against two psychologists who designed the CIA torture program. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit last year against James Mitchell and [...]
Germany’s Federal Court of Justice ruled Thursday that relatives of the victims of a 2009 airstrike in Afghanistan are not entitled to compensation. The court held that international law does not award damages or compensation for violations of international humanitarian law. Additionally, there is no legal basis for damages under German law because the scope [...]
Following mass protests in Poland , legislators have reversed their positions and rejected a near-complete abortion ban. Members of the lower house of parliament voted 352-58 Thursday against the proposed legislation. Some are cautioning that this recent reversal is no cause for celebration . Dutch lawmaker, Sophia in’t Veld said that the law as currently [...]
US government contractor Harold Thomas Martin III was arrested in August on charges that he stole government property, including classified documents, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The complaint alleges that Martin, who had a top national security clearance, removed hard copy as well as digital copies of top secret classified documents, many [...]
