The New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lawsuit from Tax Equity Now New York (TENNY), which alleges disparities in the New York City property tax system are disproportionately burdening low-income and majority-people-of-color neighborhoods, can go forward in the New York state courts. Judge Jenny Riviera, writing for the court, ruled that the [...]
Search Results for: 2017-10-18
Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership, the Sri Lankan civil war reached a brutal conclusion on May 18, 2009, ending a 25-year-long conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist rebel group. Rooted in longstanding grievances, including discriminatory policies against Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, the conflict saw the [...]
US DOJ files new obstruction of justice charges against Senator Bob Menendez and his wife
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a new superseding indictment Tuesday against Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife Nadine Menendez. The superseding indictment added new obstruction of justice charges against the couple in the ongoing case for bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Egypt. The [...]
Explainer: The Israel-Hamas War and the International Criminal Court
The current conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine raises significant issues of international law and policy. This is part one in an anticipated two-part series that will discuss some of the relevant legal questions before the International Criminal Court (ICC; Part I) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ; Part II). With both courts located in [...]
On October 2, 2023, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court granted a $360,000 reward to a whistleblower in a corruption case involving an attempted $6 million bribe—the biggest reported bribe attempt in Ukraine’s history. This reward marks the first payment to a whistleblower under the Law of Ukraine on the Prevention of Corruption, a major piece of [...]
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on Thursday detailing the “further and rapid deterioration” of human rights in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7. The report stressed that escalating violence puts civilian populations at risk and urged Israel and other authorities to take necessary [...]
Panama Supreme Court rules 20-year concession for Canada copper mine unconstitutional
Panama’s Supreme Court unanimously held Tuesday that the 20-year concession for the Canadian Cobre Panamá copper mine was unconstitutional. In its judgement, the courts found that Law 406 of October 20, 2023, which granted the mining concession to Minera Panama, the Panamanian subsidiary of Canadian First Quantum Minerals, was unconstitutional and struck down the entire law. The [...]
Armenia becomes 124th State Party to International Criminal Court
Armenia officially became the 124th State Party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday after Ambassador Mher Margaryan deposited Armenia’s accession documents in a ceremony held at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, where Margaryan presented the instrument of ratification to the Director of the Treaty Section. This ceremony is the conclusion of [...]
Facing Trump II: America's Urgent Obligation to Rethink Nuclear Command Authority
“The man who laughs has simply not yet heard the horrible news.” Berthold Brecht An Existential Task Until the end of his presidency – and even after his open complicity in subverting the United States Constitution on January 6, 2021 – Donald J. Trump held effectively unchecked nuclear command authority. Now, after multiple criminal [...]
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Militia Must Be Stopped: A Brief History of Atrocities
The conflict that erupted in April between the Sudanese National Army and the Rapid Support Forces wreaked havoc on Sudan, and has ultimately taken an appalling toll. Thousands were killed and millions displaced. Buildings were burned and infrastructure lay in ruins, instilling fear of a spiraling descent into a full-scale civil war. Even before the warfare [...]