The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday issued a ruling in Heller v. District of Columbia , ultimately upholding six and striking down four controversial elements of the Firearms Registration Amendment Act (FRA) and the Firearms Amendment Act of 2012 . Created in response to the Supreme Court’s striking [...]

The House of Councillors , Japan’s upper house of parliament, on Saturday approved a measure that allows Japan’s Self Defense Forces to deploy troops abroad for the first time since World War II. The legislation passed the lower house of Japan in July. The law was backed by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition. [...]

The Federal Supreme Court of Brazil on Thursday banned corporate entities from providing funding to political candidates in the future. The court found that the large role corporations played in campaign funding was unconstitutional and compromised the legitimacy of the elections. The Superior Electoral Court conducted a study that calculated 76 percent of the total [...]

Moroccan born Younis Abdurrahman Chekkouri, who spent 13 years in the Guantanamo Bay prison, was released Thursday as part of the Obama Administration’s effort to wind down and eventually close the detention center. The US never formally charged Chekkouri with a crime, but according to military documents he was believed to have been an associate [...]

Mexican authorities captured high-ranking drug cartel member Gildardo Lopez Astudillo Wednesday, alleging that he is connected to last year’s disappearance of 43 college students in Guerrero. National Security Commissioner Renato Sales Heredia confirmed the arrest of the suspect, who was found on the streets carrying a gun and false identification. Sales Heredia also stressed that [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Thursday that Apple should have received an injunction barring Samsung from selling any devices that infringe on Apple’s patents. The Federal Circuit panel ruled 2-1 that an injunction should have been given to Apple by the lower district court and added that Samsung will be [...]

Nebraskans for Public Safety initiated a lawsuit Thursday challenging the legality of a voter referendum that has been planned to potentially overturn the legislative repeal of the death penalty in the state. In May the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 268 , which repealed the death penalty, but Governor Pete Ricketts vetoed the bill. In May [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Thursday that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) violates the religious rights of employers by forcing them to help provide contraceptive coverage despite not being required to pay for it. The ACA requires all employers to provide insurance coverage for their employees, which includes access to [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday that General Motors (GM) has reached a deal to accept charges of wire fraud and a $900 million fine for allegedly concealing information about ignition-switch defects for more than a decade. Under a deferred-prosecution agreement, the criminal charges will likely be placed on hold as long as [...]

The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a fine Thursday against Italy in the amount of €30 million for failing to recover millions of euros that were improperly granted to hundreds of companies in the form of social security aid. A court ruling in 2011 issued an order to recover the aid, but [...]