The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, on Friday called on Lebanese authorities to carry out stronger victim-centered investigations into civilian killings from Israeli hostilities in Lebanon. Violence in the region substantially increased on September 23, 2024, when Israel began heavily striking Lebanon, killing and wounding thousands of [...]

UN human rights experts on Friday condemned the disbarment and financial penalties imposed on Hong Kong lawyer Kevin Yam (Yam Kin Fung), calling them acts of reprisal for his public comments on the independence of Hong Kong’s judiciary in a May 2023 US Congress hearing. According to the experts, Yam was removed from the Roll [...]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday condemned the attack at a synagogue in Manchester, England, calling it “particularly heinous” and stressing that “houses of worship are sacred places where people can go to find peace.” Guterres further voiced deep concern about “the alarming rise of antisemitism worldwide” and underscored the “urgent need to confront hatred [...]

US President Donald Trump’s September 25 memorandum directing federal agencies to investigate what it describes as a nationwide conspiracy to foment political violence constitutes a serious threat to human rights and democratic institutions, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Friday. The memorandum, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” instructs law enforcement and intelligence agencies [...]

Vietnamese authorities should immediately release prominent human rights activist Trịnh Bá Phương and drop all charges against him, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged on Thursday. Phương was arrested in June 2020 and convicted in December 2021 under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, receiving a 10-year sentence followed by five years of probation. Article 117 [...]

A federal judge in New York stated Wednesday that no less than two senior US Department of Justice (DOJ) officials “appear to be in direct violation” of a local court rule when they issued out-of-court statements suggesting Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was guilty before trial. Judge Margaret [...]

On Friday, US President Donald Trump’s administration filed an emergency application with the nation’s Supreme Court seeking to stay a federal district court ruling that held Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem acted unlawfully in revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan nationals. In April 2025, Noem terminated the 2023 TPS designations for Venezuela, asserting [...]

Courtroom Developments in the Luigi Mangione Hearing The New York State case against Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, saw a major development on Tuesday. Shortly after proceedings began, the court granted Mangione’s motion to dismiss two terrorism-related charges: first-degree murder as an act of terrorism and second-degree [...]

A federal lawsuit filed on Friday by four West African migrants, along with Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), accused US immigration authorities of subjecting them to inhumane treatment during their deportation to Ghana in violation of US immigration law and judicial precedent. According to the complaint, on September 5, five migrants—three from Nigeria and two [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld an $83.3 million defamation verdict in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll on Monday, backing up a jury finding that President Donald Trump defamed her when he dismissed her 2019 sexual assault allegations as false. The federal appeals panel rejected Trump’s bid to overturn the [...]