US federal authorities arrested and detained Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk on Tuesday in Medford, Massachusetts. Ozturk is a Turkish national on an F-1 visa, which allows her to study in the US. Footage of the arrest shows unidentified officers with their faces covered apprehending Ozturk as she walks down the street. They identified [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday condemned the escalating violence in Colombia’s Catatumbo region, near the border with Venezuela, where armed groups have committed severe human rights abuses and displaced tens of thousands of residents. The organization called for immediate measures to protect civilians and ensure accountability for the atrocities committed by these groups, including [...]

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A lawsuit challenging the use of a commercial messaging app by members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to coordinate military strike plans in Yemen was assigned on Wednesday to Judge James Boasberg, the same federal judge whose ruling on Venezuelan deportations to El Salvador recently sparked tensions between the White House and judiciary. The latest [...]

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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California allowed President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking the processing of refugee applications to take effect on Tuesday. However, the order states that processing of individuals conditionally approved for refugee status before the executive order was issued must continue. The executive order effectively suspends the [...]

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New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 592 on Tuesday “to end the failed reform social experiment in New Hampshire.” The bill rolls back some of the reforms made to the bail setting process over the years and increases the length of time police can detain a suspect without bail. Specifically, the bill permits [...]

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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order targeting the law firm Jenner & Block, barring it from government contracts. The administration framed the order as a necessary measure to prevent conflicts of interest and safeguard national security, arguing that law firms engaged in legal opposition to the government should not benefit from [...]

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A US federal judge on Tuesday once again blocked enforcement of an Iowa law that required the removal of books describing sexual acts from public school libraries. US District Judge Stephen Locher issued the preliminary injunction after reconsidering the law, known as Senate File 496, under instructions from a federal appeals court that had vacated [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Georgian Parliament on Wednesday to reject the new “foreign agents” bill. Europe and Central Asia director at HRW Hugh Williamson argued that if the bill passes, “it could spell the end of Georgia’s independent civil society”. Besides posing problems for independent civil society in Georgia, HRW believes the government [...]

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The Tokyo District Court ordered the dissolution of the Japanese branch of the Unification Church, colloquially known as “moonies,” following an inquest from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology into alleged violations of the Japanese Civil Code and Religious Corporations Act, according to local media. Presiding Judge Suzuki found that the methods [...]

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