Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized his Western counterparts Friday for what he described as their selective interpretation of international treaties, and poured scorn on a former US Ambassador over his understanding of the 2015 Minsk Agreements. Since December, upwards of 100,000 Russian troops have massed along the Ukrainian border. Diplomatic negotiations between Moscow, Kyiv [...]

The White House and the Justice Department announced Friday that 99 law schools across 35 states and Puerto Rico answered the attorney general’s call for action to help communities during the housing and eviction crisis. In August 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a letter to the legal community calling for help. He noted that [...]

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Friday took action against three companies accused of forced labor practices. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order and two forced labor Findings. The Withhold Release Order was issued against Malaysia-based YTY Group, based on information that YTY Group uses forced labor in its manufacturing [...]

Official discrimination against people affected by leprosy remains codified by way of more than 100 laws worldwide, and this status quo must end, urged a senior UN official on Friday. “It is time for all States concerned to make a choice: whether to keep such discriminatory laws against persons affected by leprosy in violation of [...]

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday ruled that California’s net neutrality law, SB 822, can remain in place, holding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2017 decision to reverse federal internet protections cannot bar state action. SB 822 is aimed at protecting the free and open internet by restoring the net neutrality protections afforded by [...]

Hundreds of current and former UN officials, human rights and legal experts, international NGOs, and academic institutions have signed an open letter to the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international investigation into the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran. In 1988, following a fatwa issued by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah [...]

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson Thursday announced that Amazon will pay $2.25 million to his office and shut down its “Sold by Amazon” third-party seller program after a lengthy price-fixing investigation by his office’s Antitrust Division. Ferguson’s office filed a resolution in the King County Superior Court. Because a consent decree is a court [...]

Germany announced it arrested Russian national Ilnur N. on Thursday for alleged involvement with Russia’s foreign intelligence service. According to German prosecutors, Ilnur used his position as a research assistant at a Bavarian university to share information with locally stationed Russian senior intelligence officers. Germany alleged that Ilnur engaged in three such meetings and shared [...]

NGO Access Now Thursday released a statement signed by dozens of NGOs calling on Kazak authorities and telecommunications providers to ensure internet access across the nation. Access Now accused the government of “toying” with internet access to dampen protests and provide “cover for escalating violence.” According to Access Now, the NGO defends rights for digital [...]

The High Commission of India in Ottawa released a statement Thursday on the previous week’s death of four Indian nationals on the US-Canada border, saying that the four had likely died from exposure to the outdoor elements. The commission further stated that unsafe migration due to human smuggling was a key factor in their deaths. [...]