Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld most provisions of controversial legislation that imposes a sentence of death by hanging against individuals convicted of “aggravated homosexuality.” In upholding the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the court maintained that though the country’s penal code is “undoubtedly … considered to be a relic from the country’s colonial past,” the bill’s overwhelming [...]
Search Results for: 2014-05-13
Update: City of Flint, Michigan found in contempt by federal judge in water contamination case
A federal district judge found the city of Flint, Michigan in contempt for its failure to finish the replacement of lead-contaminated pipes in the city’s water supply system according to a timeline laid out in a 2023 court order. The order, released Tuesday, granted a motion from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which sought to [...]
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear an appeal from Derek Lee, a man convicted of second-degree murder who is challenging the state’s law requiring mandatory life prison sentences for those found guilty of the offense who did not intend to kill. The court granted Lee’s petition for an appeal on the [...]
The exchange of information is a key driver of today’s digital economy. International trade cannot be performed without business owners’ ability to transfer data across national borders, and multinational enterprises’ (MNE) internal operation relies on the ability to move data among countries where they have business presence. Accordingly, data has come to the center of [...]
Russia designates author Boris Akunin as 'foreign agent' amidst dissent crackdown
Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated popular fiction writer Grigori Chkhartishvili (pen name Boris Akunin) a “foreign agent” for his criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ministry said Friday that Chkhartishvili “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine.” Chkhartishvili’s cited opposition was a Facebook post written the day Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in [...]
Amnesty International, along with over 200 civil society organizations, called upon participating governments of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) on Wednesday to address the human rights records and climate policies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The COP28, an annual conference of governments from around the world to discuss climate policies, is scheduled [...]
Sexual Assault in the US Coast Guard: A Coverup and a Call for Justice
Sexual assault in the US Armed Forces is a very real and prescient issue for all service members. In April 2023, the US Department of Defense (DoD) reported that in 2022 there had been “a roughly 1% increase in overall reports of sexual assaults” with all the service branches having seen an increase in reported [...]
Israel, Counter-Terrorism, and International Law: The Analytic Challenges of 'System'
“The existence of `system’ in the world is obvious to every observer of nature, no matter whom.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959) Whether conspicuous or obscure, terrorism generally presents itself as a systemic challenge. This means, inter alia, that seemingly singular strategic and legal matters may actually be many-sided and interrelated. Regarding legal issues, though [...]
The UK Government announced Monday that it has sanctioned six people involved in Russia’s sentencing of dual British-Russian national Vladimir Kara-Murza after his appeal was rejected. The government sanctioned three judges, two prosecutors and an “expert witness” over what it has called “politically motivated targeting.” Those sanctioned include: Moscow City Court Judges Vitaly Alexsandrovich Belitsky and [...]
State-Controlled Social Media Platforms Raise Global Alarms over Privacy and Free Speech
In February 2022, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published a report, accusing Facebook of inciting ethnic violence and disseminating misinformation in Ethiopia. A senior government official condemned the tech giant, accusing it of standing idle as the nation descended into chaos. Yet, as previously announced, the Ethiopian government refused to sit by idly and pledged [...]