The Israeli Knesset voted 62-45 on Wednesday to enable it to impeach legislators for inciting racism or supporting armed struggle against the state. Impeachment under the new law would reach the full Knesset after referral from a parliamentary committee, and require the approval of 90 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers. The decision to launch impeachment [...]
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen on Wednesday blocked a ballot measure proposing an amendment to the Illinois Consitution that aimed to eliminate the General Assembly’s power to draw legislative district boundaries. The proposal advanced by Independent Maps (IM) seeks to change the current process to avoid a situation where the redistricting and approval [...]
Pakistani Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Thursday announced his country’s intention to ask the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to send a fact-finding mission to Kashmir following recent civil unrest in the disputed region. Authorities used less-lethal pellet guns during attempts to quell civil unrest in the Indian-administered territory, [...]
A Hong Kong court on Thursday found three leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy protests guilty on charges related to their occupation of a government building. Joshua Wong and Alex Chow, prominent leaders of the Umbrella Revolution , were convicted of unlawful assembly , while a third activist, Nathan Law, was found to have incited others [...]
The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on Wednesday that the Texas photo voter identification law, SB 14 , had a discriminatory effect on minority voters, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) . However, the case was remanded to the district court to reexamine whether its discriminatory purpose [...]
A Bangladeshi court on Monday officially indicted 41 people with murder stemming from a 2013 garment factory collapse which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people. Building owner Rohel Sana and his parents were among those charged. Of the 41 charged and indicted, seven are currently in jail and the whereabouts of a [...]
The Supreme Court of the Philippines on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , who has been kept in hospital detention for nearly five years on charges of election fraud, plundering, and corruption. The Court, in an 11-4 decision , dismissed the charges citing a lack of sufficient evidence. Arroyo [...]
A Wisconsin court on Tuesday ordered the state to allow voters who do not have identification to vote in November’s general elections. Judge Lynn Alderman’s order implemented an “affidavit option” sought by the plaintiffs, in which voters who are not able to obtain ID can still vote if they sign a declaration explaining why they [...]
Acting US Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to reconsider the case challenging the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement program. A divided court split 4-4 in June, thereby allowing a Fifth Circuit ruling blocking the measures to stand. Recognizing that the court doesn’t often grant rehearing, Gershengorn argued that without a [...]
The European Court of Justice on Tuesday found that a European Commission rule generally requiring a so-called “bail-in” for banks receiving state aid is consistent with EU law. The Commission’s Banking Communication , issued in July 2013, provides that shareholders and subordinated creditors must share the burden of a struggling bank’s financial shortfall prior to [...]
