Search Results for: transparency

The Singaporean Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) announced Monday that former Minister for Transport S. Iswaran was charged with eight additional counts of obtaining, as a public servant, valuable things with a total value of S$18,956.94 (around US $14,094) for no consideration during his incumbency. The additional charges concern Iswaran receiving items from Lum Kok [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement issued Thursday called on Seychelles to hold fair and open legal processes against former presidential advisor Mukesh Valabhji and other defendants accused of embezzlement and money laundering in addition to unlawful firearm possession and conspiracy to commit terrorism in November 2021. Valabhji and his wife were both implicated [...]

In a significant move towards bolstering the United Kingdom’s commitment to preventing and responding to genocide and other atrocity crimes, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws has introduced the Genocide (Prevention and Response) Bill into the House of Lords. With its second reading on March 22, the bill promises to formalise and strengthen mechanisms for monitoring atrocity [...]

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission released an opinion Tuesday criticizing Hungary’s recent sovereignty protection law as a potential threat to free discourse. In light of its analysis, the Venice Commission ultimately recommended that the law be repealed. The opinion centers around Hungary’s Act LXXXVIII on the Protection of National Sovereignty, adopted in December 2023. [...]

Seven EU institutions are in agreement on the creation of a new ethics body following a press conference with representatives and negotiators. The agreement marks significant progress in the establishment of the body, initially proposed by Parliament in 2021 and deemed “unsatisfactory” in 2023. The call for a regulatory ethics body aims to protect EU [...]

The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan passed a bill modeled after Russia’s “foreign agents” law on Thursday, increasing the government’s oversight of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The law will require anyone receiving foreign donations to label themselves a “foreign representative” and follow tighter guidelines when documenting their activities. The bill specifically targets NGOs receiving foreign funding, and it requires [...]

The European Parliament of the EU passed on Wednesday the first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act. The act passed with a majority of 85 percent of lawmakers in favor. It aims to mitigate the risks associated with AI, while ensuring that AI systems uphold privacy, human dignity and fundamental rights. The act is also part of [...]

An AP and CNHI News report published Sunday found that less than a third of US states have agencies to resolve citizen disputes regarding access to public records or open meetings. The only recourse for resolving transparency-related disputes in these states is for citizens to engage in expensive litigation. While some states like Arizona do [...]

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado claimed Saturday that the regime of President Nicolás Maduro has kidnapped her campaign manager Emill Brandt in the State of Barinas and that another of her campaign managers has been kidnapped and is currently being held in El Helicoide, calling the prison “the largest torture center in Latin America.” Members [...]

“Stakeknife,” the highest-ranking British military spy placed within the Irish Republican Army, who has been linked to at least 14 murders and 15 abductions, may have cost more lives than he saved during the Northern Ireland Troubles, an interim report released Friday by a group of independent investigators found. It is widely believed that Stakeknife’s [...]