A German court suspended the right of the country’s domestic intelligence agency to conduct surveillance on the AfD, the leading opposition in Parliament, pending the outcome of a legal challenge by the far-right party. Initially, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency planned to investigate AfD on suspicion of being a threat to democracy.
Source: The New York Times
Pushing member states to address salary disparities between men and women, the EU revealed details of a proposed law that would require companies to divulge gender pay gaps and give job candidates access to salary information in employment interviews. Additionally, companies could be punished if they fail to pay women and men the same salaries.
Source: The New York Times
Switzerland has narrowly voted in favour of banning face coverings in public, including the burka or niqab worn by Muslim women; almost no-one in Switzerland wears a burka and only around 30 women wear the niqab. The new law doesn't apply to facial coverings for health reasons.
Source: BBC
A German aid group that operated a migrant rescue boat in the Mediterranean said Italian magistrates were set to charge 21 individuals and three human rights groups with aiding illegal immigration from Libya.
Source: Reuters
Three nongovernmental organisations based in France, Syria, and Russia have announced a legal case in Moscow against the Vagner Group, a Russian military contractor with indirect ties to the country's political elite, over the 2017 torture of a detainee in Syria.
Source: Radio Free Europe
French European Affairs Minister Clément Beaune is calling on the European Commission to start a legal procedure against Poland over the existence of “LGBT-ideology free zones” in the country.
Source: Politico
Poland and Hungary filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice regarding the bloc's intention to link payments with rule of law conditions. The move to challenge the EU's rule of law compliance initiative, which ties its budget to basic democratic standards, will slow down its adoption by the bloc.
Source: DW
France may soon join just a handful of countries, including the United States and Switzerland, with far-reaching legislation aimed to repatriate confiscated stolen assets to their countries of origin.
Source: VOA News
Prime minister says sculptures, removed from the monument by Lord Elgin in circumstances that have since spurred one of the world’s most famous cultural rows, would remain in Britain because they had been legally acquired.
Source: The Guardian