UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned Monday that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba is causing widespread harm to the population and endangering lives, calling for the sanctions to be lifted immediately. Türk’s statement identified two overlapping measures: the national emergency declared by President Trump in January, which disrupted fuel shipments [...]

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Office of the Governor of California, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 73 on Wednesday, expanding the state’s election security protections by restricting unauthorized law enforcement access to polling places, banning military personnel from voting locations, and making it a felony to seize ballots ahead of the June 2 statewide primary election. The bill, authored by state Senator Sabrina Cervantes [...]

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The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent warning letters Wednesday to 12 websites that offer so-called “nudify” tools, saying they have failed to comply with a federal law requiring platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours of a valid request. The letters, addressed to companies the FTC did not publicly name, allege the [...]

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“Gig” workers around the world experience long hours, unpredictable and declining pay, and serious safety risks as platform companies sidestep labor protections, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday in a report. HRW urges governments to adopt binding standards in an International Labour Organization (ILO) treaty on platform work, negotiations for which are scheduled for June [...]

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Swedish authorities arrested the Chinese captain of a suspected Russia-linked oil tanker on Monday on suspicion of using forged documents and violating maritime law in the Baltic Sea, according to local media. On Sunday, the Swedish Coast Guard stopped the Jin Hui, a 182-meter tanker, in Swedish territorial waters south of Trelleborg over suspicions it was [...]

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A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a proposed class action accusing the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) of conspiring with law schools to fix application fees and monopolize the admissions process, but gave the plaintiff until May 12 to file an amended complaint. US District Judge John Murphy of the US District Court for the [...]

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The US Supreme Court on Monday reversed a district court ruling that had blocked Texas’s 2025 congressional map as a likely racial gerrymander, allowing the Republican-drawn districts to stand for the 2026 midterm elections. The unsigned one-paragraph order cited the Court’s own 2025 decision in Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens as controlling, [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday called on Hungary to repeal its 2021 anti-LGBTQ “child protection” law, one day after the European Union’s top court ruled the measure illegal. “This is a landmark ruling making clear that Hungary’s anti-LGBT law has no place in the European Union and should be repealed,” said Lydia Gall, HRW’s [...]

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A California ride-share driver advocacy group filed a complaint Monday in state court against Uber Technologies, Inc., alleging the company violated Proposition 22 and should be barred from classifying its drivers as independent contractors. Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), a California nonprofit representing more than 20,000 app-based drivers in the state, claimed Uber breached the Protect App-Based [...]

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The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

FBI director Kash Patel filed a complaint Monday in US District Court for the District of Columbia against The Atlantic magazine and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, seeking $250 million in damages over a story alleging he had “alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.” The suit targets an April 17 article headlined “Kash [...]

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