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A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Kazakhstan president says he gave order to ‘open fire with lethal force’ | The Guardian

The Scottish government has been accused of “legalising littering” after a mere 34 of 135,000 reported fly-tipping incidents were sent to prosecutors. Despite incidents being reported in 30 of Scotland's local areas, only eight councils passed cases on to the Crown Office.

New measures targeted directly at keeping women and girls safer have been added to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill the government has announced. Under the changes, victims of domestic abuse will be allowed more time to report incidents of common assault or battery against them. Cu

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has dismissed the so-called "gay cake" case brought by Gareth Lee, a UK national, represented by Ciaran Moynagh of Phoenix Law, against the United Kingdom government. The ECtHR found that Mr Lee had relied on national legislation to advance his discriminati

Benjamin Bestgen takes a philosophical look at corruption. In November 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson felt the need to tell the world’s media at the COP26 conference that the UK was not remotely a corrupt country. The PM took this step as both he personally and his Tory party are, not for

Forbes Leslie has stepped down as senior partner of Dallas McMillan after 20 years in the position, with head of litigation Gordon Bell taking his place. David McElroy meanwhile became the firm’s managing partner. His role will focus on the firm’s business development and strategic plann

Three Aberdeenshire men have been sentenced after admitting using dogs to hunt wild hares. Peter Anderson, Philip Starr and Phillip Wilson, all from Macduff, had previously pled guilty to wildlife offences at Forfar Sheriff Court.

Scottish ministers have appointed 15 part-time sheriffs and 17 part-time summary sheriffs. The new part-time sheriffs are: Robert Carr, Duncan Hamilton QC, Kirsty Hood QC, Krista Johnston, Gareth Jones, Neil Kinnear, Mark Lindsay QC, Scott Manson, Christian Marney, Robert More, James Mulgrew, Iain N

A Scottish employment tribunal has ordered Rape Crisis Scotland to pay a former employee over £50,000 in compensation after it found she had been unfairly dismissed from her role in the charity. It also expressed concern at the extensive role played by chief executive Sandy Brindley throughout

India's tax authority has seized £26 million in banknotes, 23 kilograms of gold and 250 kilograms of silver from the country's biggest-ever tax evader. Businessman Piyush Jain was arrested after officials raided his home, described by local media as a "warehouse of money" with cash "spilling o

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is seeking feedback on the draft journalism code of practice about processing personal data for the purposes of journalism.  This is a statutory code under section 124 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The consultation will close on Monday 10 January 2

The so-called "gay cake" case could return to the domestic courts following a "disappointing" ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), lawyers have said. The ECtHR ruled that the case brought by Gareth Lee against the United Kingdom was inadmissible because Mr Lee did not explicitly r

Iain Drummond considers a recent case that provides lessons for the construction sector concerning the enforcement of adjudicators’ decisions by companies in liquidation. The recent case of John Doyle Construction (JDC) v Erith Contractors Limited provides two lessons for the construction sect

This month may prove to be the “most challenging time of the pandemic”, according to the head of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Eric McQueen has warned that the increasing level of positive Covid cases and need to self-isolate are likely to cause further case delays and that

The Scottish government’s Consultation on Regulation of the Legal Profession closed on Christmas Eve. The Scottish Law Agents’ Society’s response, authored by its council member Ken Swinton, notes the importance of proper regulation of will writing and confirmation work – two