EU ministers Tuesday adopted legislation to phase out sales of new carbon-emitting cars and vans by 2035. The approved law amends Regulation 2019/631 and sets higher standards for reducing carbon emissions. Under the new legislation, the EU’s carbon emission reduction targets will be raised to 55 percent for cars and 50 percent for vans by [...]

Shoe manufacturer Adidas Wednesday reversed course and withdrew its claim against Black Lives Matter (BLM) alleging that the group’s logo violates Adidas’ trademark. Adidas filed the initial claim with the US Trademark Office on Monday. According to the BBC, a spokesperson for Adidas said, “Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global [...]

Burkina Faso Monday announced that it will suspend broadcasts from France 24, a French international news network, after the network aired an interview with the head of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The interview effectively classifies France 24 as a “communications agency for these terrorists,” according to Minister of Communication Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo. “France [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Tuesday called for authorities in El Salvador to address human rights concerns as the nation marks one year in a state of emergency. Authorities enacted the state of emergency on March 27, 2022 following a wave of gang-related murders. The measure was initially for [...]

US Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mark Takano (D-CA) Tuesday urged Twitter CEO Elon Musk to address the rise in hate speech on the social media platform since he purchased it in October 2022. Schiff and Takano originally urged Musk to investigate the increased hate speech in December, at which point they reported a 61.3 [...]

US federal prosecutors Tuesday charged Samuel Bankman-Fried, former CEO and co-founder of crypto trading platform FTX, with bribing Chinese government officials in early 2021 as part of a superseding indictment. In the indictment, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of paying Chinese government officials $40 million to unfreeze cryptocurrency trading accounts on two of China’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. [...]

Malaysia’s Parliament Monday began its consideration of two bills introduced to abolish mandatory death penalties for certain sentences. The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill of 2023 would reverse prior laws that require a mandatory death sentence for 33 different offenses. While the bill would not completely abolish the use of the death penalty, it [...]

Press freedom groups in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Monday condemned the region’s harassment of journalists. In a statement issued Monday, HKJA expressed its concern for a female Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) journalist who was tailed by two men as she left her home to go [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday declined to hear Steven Donziger v. United States, a case concerning a human rights lawyer charged with multiple criminal counts of contempt and prosecuted by special prosecutors. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented and would have heard the appeal. Gorsuch argued that the appointment of the private attorneys as [...]