US President Barack Obama signed the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act (HR 1624) into law on Wednesday. This law will amend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by changing businesses with 51-100 employees to a “large employer” designation instead of the current “small employer” designation. States will have the option of treating currently designated small [...]
The Supreme Court of Spain on Thursdayupheld the dismissal of a case investigating the Rwandan genocide . Spain modified its universal jurisdiction laws last year, and the court refused to lift the reform requirements (Art. 23, Organic Law 1/2014) from the present case. Unless a Spanish citizen was a victim of the genocide or the [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said Thursday that Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is seeking to open an investigation into allegations of war crimes committed during the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict, and that the matter has been assigned to Pre-Trial Chamber I. Bensouda filed notice with the court that she intends to seek authorization to open an [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday urged the Mexican government to cease using their military as law enforcement and replace the current force with well trained police officers. The High Commissioner addressed the law enforcement issues on his visit to Mexico to meet with government officials. It is reported [...]
The UN issued the Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners Wednesday to improve the treatment of prisoners throughout the world. Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, spoke on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , saying, “e notes the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all persons deprived of their [...]
Brazil’s Federal Accounts Court (TCU) on Wednesday determined that President Dilma Rousseff’s government accounting practices were illegal. Rousseff’s administration allegedly took out unauthorized loan money from state banks to cover budget shortfalls. The ruling will be sent to congress, and her opponents may use the ruling to attempt to impeach her. It could also open [...]
The Michigan House of Representatives approved medical marijuana legislation Wednesday to clarify the legal regulation of the medical marijuana industry. The “medical marihuana facilities licensing act” provides the licensing requirements for businesses to grow, sell and pay taxes on medical marijuana. The “marihuana tracking act” allows the state to monitor medical marijuana providers and issue [...]
California Jerry Brown signed the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 on Wednesday, which lays out plans to reduce air pollution and increase energy efficiency. To double the amount of energy efficiency in the state, the bill creates efficiency targets for electrical and gas companies and requires that at least 50 percent of [...]
Transparency International and the UNCAC Coalition on Thursday urged the Mongolian parliament to veto a new bill that contains provisions granting amnesty to individuals being investigated for corruption. They argue that the passage of this law would allow for 45 out of 55 corruption cases brought by the Independent Agency against Corruption (IAAC) in Mongolia [...]
The High Court of Australia ruled Wednesday that the genetic material, BRCA1 , is not a “patentable invention” under §18(1)(a) of the Patents Act 1990 . Holding that allowing the gene to be patented would “involve an extension of the concept of a manner of manufacture,” the court said that this question was not “appropriate [...]
