The fight against fake news, a national emergency declaration and lawsuits over country pursuits - all coming up in this week’s Justice Beat.
Quote of the day
“Lives are at risk. This is no time to play fast and loose with the law." - The Good Law Project is challenging contingency plans for no-deal Brexit medicine shortages.
Fake news crackdown
1. MPs consider that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shown "contempt" to a parliamentary committee by failing to show up and give evidence, Business Insider reports. The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee published a report this week on disinformation and "fake news", claiming that Facebook suffered from a “profound failure of governance”.
Dangerous precedents
2. Across the pond, President Donald Trump is facing a backlash against his declaration of a national emergency, which releases funding to build his promised wall on the US-Mexico border. The declaration is already subject to several lawsuits, with politicians in the House and Senate arguing that it constitutes a dangerous precedent, CNN reports.
3. Meanwhile, commentators are asking whether States should revoke citizenship from women who travel to marry Islamic State fighters. Trump is insisting that IS bride Hoda Muthana should not be allowed to return to the US, the Telegraph reports. While the UK Home Secretary has reportedly stripped Shamima Begum of citizenship, lawyers in the US are wrangling over whether Muthana is a US citizen at all.
Who said it’s quieter in the country?
4. A row between aristocratic neighbours over allegations of noise nuisance by game shooting ends with a bang, as a judge threw out an application for noise abatement orders, the Daily Mail reports. The judge considered that Hampshire resident Dr Charles Gillies O’Bryan-Tear had acted unreasonably with his neighbours, lamenting that a minor disagreement became “bitter", "protracted" and "spiteful”.
5. Meanwhile, a senior judge in Germany is preparing to spend a night next to a herd of dairy cattle to determine whether the noise from cowbells is exceeding acceptable levels in the early hours, the Times reports. The dispute arises as a neighbouring property owner claims to be suffering from insomnia and depression as a result of the the grazing beasts.
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This week on CrowdJustice
Married couple Justine & Trevor Palin are raising funds to prevent HS2 threatening the value of their home, seven nature conservation charities are raising funds to protect a natural coastal dune system from an 18-hole golf course, and adoptive parents are fundraising to get help from a local council after their personal data were disclosed to their children’s birth family, who have a history of violence.
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