The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Legislative Assembly passed the Sexuality and Gender Identity Conversion Practices Bill on Thursday, banning the practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ persons. Sexuality or gender identity conversion practices are “treatment or other practice the purpose, or purported purpose, of which is to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity.” However, [...]

The Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security issued a report on Wednesday suggesting that secrecy offenses should still be applicable to journalists who publish sensitive national security information. The Australian Parliament created the report as the result of an inquiry in press freedom following the Australian Federal Police (AFP) raids on the national [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has affirmed an order from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denying third-party presidential candidates automatic placement on the November 2020 Pennsylvania ballot because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Libertarian, Constitution, and Green Parties of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against state officials [...]

A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has dismissed a lawsuit by the Alabama NAACP that alleged that the state’s 2011 Photo Voter Identification Law was unconstitutional. The law requires voters to present a form of photo identification at the polls. The state chapter of the NAACP filed the [...]

The Shawnee County District Attorney filed criminal voter fraud charges against US Representative Steve Watkins (R-KA) on Tuesday, following an investigation by the county Sheriff’s Office. District Attorney Mike Kagay filed four separate charges against Watkins: (1) interference with law enforcement and providing false information; (2) voting without being qualified; (3) unlawful advance voting; and [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court’s order refusing to remove a lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy from state to federal court on Tuesday. The lawsuit, originally filed in the District Court for the County of Boulder, Colorado in 2018, alleges that the two fossil-fuel companies are liable [...]

Five US states, as well as the District of Columbia (DC), filed a 46-page lawsuit against Betsy DeVos in her role as the Secretary of Education on Tuesday, asking a federal court to declare a recent Department of Education (DOED) rule interpreting the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) unlawful. Michigan, California, [...]

The French government has halted its plans to ban the use of chokeholds by police officers on detainees following protests by French police unions. Frédéric Veaux, the country’s national police director, sent a letter to police on Monday which stated that, though the chokehold would no longer be taught during police training, the use of [...]

Forty-seven UN human rights experts, also called Special Rapporteurs, released a statement on Tuesday, contending that the Israeli government’s plan to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian West Bank will violate international law and must be condemned by the international community. In the statement, the human rights experts explained the amount of Palestinian land that [...]

Iranian Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili announced Tuesday that Iran will soon execute the citizen informant who allegedly gave the US and Israeli forces information on General Qassem Soleimani, possibly leading to the airstrike in January that killed the General. Esmaili stated: “Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, one of the spies for and Mossad, has been sentenced to death. [...]