A panel of human rights experts have called on the UN member states to place a moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology until there is a regulatory framework that protects human rights. In a statement released Thursday, the group of experts said they were “deeply concerned that highly sophisticated intrusive tools are being used [...]

READ MORE ▸

Royal Dutch Shell (Shell), one of the world’s six “supermajor” oil companies, on Wednesday announced it will pay N 45.9 billion (naira) (US $111.6 million) in settling a decades-long legal dispute concerning an oil spill that occurred during the Biafran-Nigerian civil war. A coalition of ten Ogoni community members led by Chief Isaac Agbara in [...]

READ MORE ▸

The US Supreme Court issued an emergency order on Thursday blocking part of New York’s eviction moratorium aimed at protecting renters from eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the emergency order, thousands of renters will potentially face eviction. The emergency order will remove the “self-attestation” ability for renters, which previously allowed renters [...]

READ MORE ▸
Scott Bobb, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced on Thursday that the rocket and mortar attacks by Hamas, killing civilians in Israel and Gaza, constituted a war crime under the laws of war. The human rights advocacy group said the armed wing of the Islamist militant group and other Palestinian groups staged rocket and mortar attacks against Israel [...]

READ MORE ▸
© WikiMedia (Jeffrey Duran)

The Canadian government on Friday announced that it will resettle 20,000 vulnerable Afghans facing threats from the Taliban and being forced to flee as Taliban edges closer to assuming total control of Afghanistan. The Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stated that the government is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and assured [...]

READ MORE ▸
© WikiMedia (Cacophony)

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously held that a homeless person’s vehicle automatically qualifies as a homestead without the need for a declaration and that the impoundment of that vehicle and associated costs constitute excessive fines—a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution. The case involves Steven Gregory Long, a 56-year-old Native [...]

READ MORE ▸

The Legislative Assembly of Assam passed a bill on Friday that seeks to protect cattle by controlling their “slaughter, consumption and illegal transportation.” The bill seeks to implement the directive principle of state policy given in Article 48 of the Indian Constitution, which requires the state to “organise animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines” [...]

READ MORE ▸

The US Supreme Court on Thursday denied an application for an emergency writ of injunction against Indiana University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, upholding the rulings of the two lower courts. Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied the application without seeking response from the university or the state and without referring it for a vote to the full Court. [...]

READ MORE ▸
© WikiMedia (Adrian Grycuk)

The lower house of Poland’s parliament voted 228-216 to narrowly pass a media reform legislation on Wednesday that the US Department of State fears will “significantly weaken the media environment the Polish people have worked so long to build.” Stating that he is “deeply troubled” by the legislation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasised the importance of media freedom [...]

READ MORE ▸