Photo Courtesy of ArizonaSports.com After a Moscow regional court affirmed her drug conviction, the American basketball star will start serving a nine-year term in a Russian penal colony. In a courthouse outside of Moscow earlier this year, Judge Anna Sotnikova delivered Griner's sentence, which came near to the maximum 10-year term for the narcotics possession and smuggling counts she faced. Russian prosecutors had requested 9 1/2 years in prison. In addition to the punishment, there is a 1 million rubles fine. The nine-year sentence given to the WNBA star is generally seen as being out of proportion to her crime; Griner is accused of possessing and smuggling less than a gram…

Courtesy of Brookings. In mid-2020, U.S. lawmakers approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The deal replaced and modernized the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), though several provisions were left nearly unchanged. The USMCA’s terms influence each party’s decisions about issues like trade, labor, and energy.    Mexican energy laws are different than those in the U.S. The Mexican Constitution provides that any oil or gas found underground, regardless of the finder, is government property (more specifically, “the Nation’s property”). This concept differs from U.S. jurisprudence, where the common law rule of capture applies instead: oil and gas generally belong to the finder. In 2014, then-Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto…

Courtesy of BBC. Since June, there has been a startling number of strikes among criminal barristers in the United Kingdom. This ongoing battle for the Barristers in London has been constant since September. Their aversion to work results from the contentious issues the government has failed to address. Barristers continuously face inadequate pay, case backlogs, staff cuts, court closures, and the lack of justice for victims. These strikes are not surprising to most. For a while, members of the Criminal Bar Association, representing barristers (English lawyers) in England and Wales, have consistently felt overworked and undervalued. Often complain that the pay is incomparable to living costs in London. Since 2006, Barristers have endured income. They have experienced over…

Photo Courtesy of Reuters Russia’s most recent attempt at taking control of the war it created in Ukraine has inevitably led to devastating and even deadly consequences for the Ukrainian people. Such consequences, however, are not only deadly but also likely illegal. Russia’s most recent efforts to seize control of Ukraine, by means of airstrikes, likely violate international law. Russia likely violated principles on the conduct of hostilities under international humanitarian law with its deadly airstrikes on Ukraine. Moreover, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said, “We are gravely concerned that some of the attacks appear to have targeted critical civilian infrastructure … indicating that these strikes may have violated the principles on…

H-2A program allows seasonal workers into the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs. Citizens of 82 countries are eligible under this program. For fiscal year 2022, 295,385 H-2A workers were approved through this program. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) sets federal standards for minimum wage and overtime pay for any employer covered under this act. However, may some employers, mainly those hiring agricultural workers, including under the H-2A program, must meet certain requirements without which those enterprises are usually exempt from either paying minimum wage and/or overtime pay. One of those requirements is employing an agricultural worker for 500 or more man-days in any quarter in the previous calendar…

Photo Courtesy of TechCrunch. Data privacy protections in the wake of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) have set a high bar for compliance concerning companies’ handling of consumer data. Since its inception in May 2018, large and small companies interacting with E.U. member state citizens’ personal data have had to adjust their internal practices to ensure compliance with the GDPR requirements. This has impacted companies differently, as some have had to bear the burden of higher costs and more complicated means to achieve compliance. For those who fail to comply, the financial burden can be catastrophic. The baseline financial penalty sits at up to 4% of a…

Photo Courtesy of Cointribune Developments in digital technology in the financial services industry have led to dramatic growth in markets for digital assets. Digital assets provide possible opportunities for the U.S. to strengthen its leadership in the international financial system and remain at the technological frontline. However, based on the recent events in crypto markets, it is undisputed that they have their risks. Thus, The White House has announced its first-ever outline on what crypto regulation in the U.S. should look like — comprising ways in which the financial services industry should take steps to make borderless transactions (global payments) easier, and how to prevent fraud in the digital asset…

Photo Courtesy of Central European Times. The European Commission has proposed freezing €7.5 billion in European Union payments to Hungary, after experts believe that the country is no longer a democracy, but an ‘electoral autocracy.’ In fact, 80 percent of European Parliament members voted and declared that Hungary is no longer a “full democracy.” Much of the commission’s concerns stemmed from Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who has been in power since 2010. There have been increased concerns over academic and religious freedoms within the country, the functioning of their electoral system, and rights of vulnerable groups like minorities and refugees.     In addition to his reputation as a leader,…

For the past two decades, the U.S. dollar had not been stronger than Euro. This, however, changed in July as the two currencies reached parity. For the first time since 2002, the U.S. Dollar and Euro had a 1:1 exchange rate. The dollar has continued to strengthen, as one American dollar is worth 0.98 Euros, as of September 11, 2022. What made the dollar so strong? One of the most consequential reasons that boosted the value of the dollar is the U.S. Federal Reserve’s announcement to raise interest rates. Generally, higher interest rates lead to a stronger currency. In addition, turmoil in the global economy, including skyrocketing gas prices and…

As the nation watches the war in Ukraine unfold, many are closely monitoring the response from the United States and its NATO allies. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and since then, the countries have been at war over the sovereignty of Ukraine. Ukraine is not a party to NATO; therefore, this has kept the allies from joining the battle itself. However, NATO and the United States, have placed what they hope to be crippling sanctions on Russia. The United States began by sanctioning Russia’s export systems and economy. Specifically, the United States targeted the 10 largest financial systems in Russia, hoping to undercut the ability of Russia to…