Panama’s Supreme Court has annulled the concession framework underpinning Panama Ports Company’s long-running contracts at the Panama Canal’s Atlantic and Pacific gateways, casting immediate uncertainty over who will control the Balboa and Cristóbal container terminals and complicating CK Hutchison’s proposed $23 billion sale of its global ports business to a consortium led by BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Company. In a ruling issued after what it called “extensive deliberation,” the court found the laws and state…

Prominent rights activist Sarah Bireete, detained on December 30 after questioning the accuracy of the voter register ahead of Uganda's January 15 general election, has been granted bail. Bireete, who leads the Centre for Constitutional Governance, faced charges for the alleged unlawful disclosure of voters' information. Magistrate Winnie Nankya Jatiko approved Bireete's release after she met the necessary bail conditions. Her detention sparked widespread condemnation from both local and international human rights…

Europe’s top court has ruled that Hungary violated European Union law by voting against the bloc’s agreed position on cannabis classification during a United Nations meeting, finding Budapest breached the principle of sincere cooperation and the EU’s exclusive external competence. The Court of Justice of the European Union said Hungary “failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law” when, at a 2020 session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, it voted against removing cannabis from a list of substances that also…

Slovakia will challenge the European Union’s decision to end imports of Russian natural gas by 2027, Prime Minister Robert Fico said, aligning Bratislava with neighboring Hungary’s plan to sue over the measure. The legal move deepens a rift inside the bloc over how quickly to sever energy ties with Moscow more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both Slovakia and Hungary are landlocked central European countries that have maintained close links to the Kremlin and remain heavily reliant on Russian…

Tokyo court orders North Korea to pay €440,000 to victims of ‘paradise on Earth’ repatriation scheme Tokyo — A Japanese court has ordered North Korea to pay €440,000 in damages to four plaintiffs who say they were lured to the country by a propaganda campaign promising a “paradise on Earth,” in a rare legal rebuke that rights advocates called historic. The Tokyo District Court ruled Monday that the four had “most of their lives taken away” and awarded each at least 20 million yen (about €110,000) in compensation. The case…

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel, appeared in federal court in New York as a judge weighed whether to allow key evidence in a death penalty case that has drawn national attention. Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to murder, stalking and weapons charges. He appeared in prison garb before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is considering whether items recovered from a backpack searched by Altoona, Pennsylvania, police can be…

Former First Lady's Foundation Ordered to Surrender Records Amid Investigation A court has ordered the Clar Hope Foundation, owned by former First Lady Clar Marie Weah, to surrender its administrative and financial records concerning the construction of the foundation's massive complex outside Monrovia. The order follows a request from the government's Assets Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force (AREPT), which is investigating allegations that illicit funds were used to finance the sprawling facility—a claim the…

Japan convicts Abe assassin; Yamagami sentenced to life in Nara court The man who fatally shot former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, more than three years after the broad-daylight assassination stunned a nation with some of the world’s strictest gun laws and triggered a reckoning over politics and religion. Judge Shinichi Tanaka delivered the sentence at a court in the city of Nara. Long lines formed early in the morning as people sought tickets to observe proceedings,…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has welcomed an appellate ruling that clears the way for the country’s elected representatives to take their seats in the East African Legislative Assembly, ending months of legal uncertainty over Somalia’s participation in the regional body. In a statement issued Tuesday, the ministry congratulated the nine lawmakers chosen by Somalia’s Federal Parliament to represent the country in EALA, calling the court’s decision a key step toward…

NAIROBI, Kenya (AX) — A regional appeals court on Monday cleared Somalia’s representatives to take their seats in the East African Legislative Assembly, overturning earlier rulings that had blocked their participation and ending a months-long legal dispute over the country’s nomination process. The decision paves the way for Somalia’s full engagement in the East African Community’s legislative body and removes a significant obstacle to Mogadishu’s regional integration efforts since joining the bloc. Somalia’s ambassador to…