Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight stories for today including the World Health Organization urged richer nations to not worsen the pandemic by hoarding and fighting over vaccines; Johnson & Johnson announced that a single shot of its Janssen vaccine is effective enough to go to market; A Virginia judge is weighing whether actress Amber Heard can rely on a law aimed at deterring speech-chilling litigation to fend off defamation claims brought by her ex-husband Johnny Depp, and more.
Sign up for the CNS Top Eight, a roundup of the day’s top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday.
National
1.) Soon to be another weapon in the arsenal against the Covid-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced Friday that a single shot of its Janssen vaccine is effective enough to go to market.
2.) Waves from the huge splash caused by retail investors’ run on GameStop shares continued throughout Wall Street on Friday, causing analysts to split on how long the phenomenon will last.
3.) The D.C. Circuit agreed with conservationists Friday that the Clean Air Act contained several illegal loopholes that let states manipulate clean air requirements.
Regional
4.) A Virginia judge is weighing whether actress Amber Heard can rely on a law aimed at deterring speech-chilling litigation to fend off defamation claims brought by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.
5.) Environmentalists urged the Third Circuit on Friday to expand the reporting duties owed by U.S. Steel after harmful emissions lingered in a Pennsylvania town for three months following a plant fire.
6.) The state of Kentucky argued on Friday before an appeals court panel that an advertisement for an adult bookstore on the side of a tractor-trailer violates state law and must be removed.
International
7.) One year after it declared the novel coronavirus an international health emergency, the World Health Organization on Friday urged richer nations to not worsen the pandemic by hoarding and fighting over vaccines.
8.) Oil giant Shell is liable for oil leakages in the Niger Delta and must compensate farmers whose livelihoods have been destroyed by pollution, a Dutch appeals court ruled on Friday.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.