The UN Human Rights Committee ruled Thursday that the proceedings against former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon in the Franco and Gurtel cases were arbitrary. It also observed that the two trials violated the principles of impartiality and judicial independence. In 2010, Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary suspended investigating judge Baltasar Garzon in furtherance of [...]
The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation (“the Ministry”) on Friday released “liberalised” Drone Rules, which will regulate the ownership and usage of private and commercial drones in the country. The new rules will replace the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, released in March. The academia, startups, end-users and other stakeholders viewed the previous rules as restrictive [...]
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an amended complaint with additional data and evidence against Facebook on Thursday, continuing its antitrust case against the social media giant. The amended complaint comes after US District Judge James Boasberg dismissed the FTC’s initial complaint due to lack of evidence in June but allowed the agency to [...]
The Madras high court issued an order Tuesday directing the central government to consider enacting separate legislation providing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a statutory status. The CBI, India’s premier investigative agency, was established through an executive order under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946. It comes under the administrative control of the Department [...]
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” [...]
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned Tuesday that the failure to stop the growing violence and human rights violations in Afghanistan is having devastating consequences for its civilians. Following the withdrawal of US soldiers from Afghanistan, the Taliban has quickly taken control of vast areas of the country. In the preceding [...]
Kerala High Court ruled Friday that although marital rape is not a criminal offence in India, it constitutes a “good ground” for divorce. This case represents an appeal by a woman’s husband against the decision of a family court which allowed the wife’s petition for divorce on the ground of cruelty. The petition claimed that the [...]
The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday ordered a judge-led investigation into the alleged rape, murder and forced cremation of a nine-year-old girl. The girl belonged to the Dalit caste, which has historically endured oppression, deprivation and extreme discrimination at the hands of India’s upper-caste Hindus. The Delhi police arrested four individuals in connection with [...]
The New Zealand government introduced a bill in the country’s parliament Friday that criminalizes conversion practices targeted at LGBTQ+ people to deter the performance of such practices. The bill defines conversion practice as any action taken against a person because of that person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, with the intention of changing [...]
South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation on Wednesday condemned the African Union (AU) Commission’s decision to award Israel observer status. Israel obtained the observer status last week when Aleleign Admasu, Israel’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, presented his credentials as an observer to the AU. At the same time, HE Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of [...]
