A US federal appellate court panel on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case to determine whether Congress may strip Planned Parenthood and its affiliates of its Medicaid funding. The case challenges the “Defund Provision” of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which excluded Planned Parenthood-affiliate organizations from federal funding. Before the US Court of [...]
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders on Wednesday to prioritize Africa and promote peace, security and sustainable development on the continent. The statement follows the Ninth African Union-UN Annual Conference, where the UN and the African Union (AU) discussed the need to implement further cooperation frameworks, as well as to boost joint action to [...]
President Donald Trump signed a sweeping spending measure Wednesday, ending the longest government shutdown in US history and funding federal operations through January 2026. The House passed the bill 222-209, with six Democrats joining Republicans to secure passage despite the GOP’s narrow majority. Two Republicans voted against the measure. Republicans blamed Senate Democrats for the [...]
The Game Over Israel organization, with support from Athletes 4 Peace, a collective of professional athletes, issued a letter on Tuesday urging the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to suspend Israel over its human rights violations against Palestinians. The letter was signed by more than 70 prominent sports figures, including footballers, cricketers, and boxers. [...]
Human Rights Watch raised concern on Tuesday over the authorities in Cameroon responding to widespread opposition-led protests following the October 12 elections with lethal force and mass arrests of protesters and other citizens. Tuesday’s report detailed a violent crackdown that followed the Constitutional Council’s announcement on October 27, declaring 92-year-old incumbent Paul Biya the winner [...]
France’s National Assembly on Wednesday voted to suspend a contentious pension reform law until after the 2027 presidential election. Wednesday’s vote, included as part of the vote on an amendment to France’s 2026 social security budget, passed by a margin of 255 to 146 with 104 abstentions. The push to suspend the pension reform law, [...]
Venezuelan nationals deported to El Salvador in the spring by the US government were tortured and ill-treated, advocacy groups reported Wednesday. According to an 81-page report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal, a Salvadoran advocacy group, members of a group of 252 Venezuelan deportees sent to El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement [...]
The US Supreme Court extended its previous order Tuesday night that blocked a lower federal court’s order requiring the Trump administration to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through November. The extension will last through November 13. The one-page ruling stated only that the prior order granting an administrative stay would be extended through [...]
Update: Following the developments reported below, the House Oversight Committee released an additional 20,000 documents related to the case. Democrats of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails in which the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appeared to discuss President Donald Trump’s knowledge of his criminal activities, escalating congressional scrutiny of the administration’s [...]
Amnesty International called on Angolan authorities Tuesday to deliver justice on the fifth anniversary of the fatal shooting of Inocêncio de Matos, who was killed while participating in a protest in Luanda. Vongai Chikwanda, deputy regional director for Southern Africa at Amnesty International, stated that Matos posed no threat to authorities or third parties when [...]
