Human Rights Watch on Monday called on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to publicly challenge the United Arab Emirates’ human rights record and its role in fueling atrocities in Sudan ahead of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s scheduled visit to Berlin on September 10, 2026. The visit was expected [...]

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, filed separate motions Wednesday in Manhattan federal court seeking dismissal of the charges against them. Maduro argued that he remains Venezuela’s head of state for immunity purposes, notwithstanding the United States’ refusal to recognize him as the country’s legitimate president. Flores contended that she is [...]

Venezuela’s National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously approved a reform to the Organic Law of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice expanding the Judicial Nominations Committee from 21 to 23 members and granting civil society organizations a majority of seats, in what negotiators described as a concrete step toward rebuilding judicial independence following decades of political control over [...]

A Chinese military court on Thursday sentenced two former defense ministers to death with a two-year reprieve for corruption, marking the heaviest penalties imposed on senior military officials since President Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign more than a decade ago. Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were convicted in separate proceedings, according to a statement [...]

The International Court of Justice opened oral hearings Monday on the merits of a territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo region, with Guyana asking the court to declare that Venezuela has no legitimate claim to the oil-rich territory that constitutes some two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass. The hearings, scheduled to run from May [...]

Human Rights Watch warned Monday that the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup risks unfolding against a backdrop of abusive immigration enforcement, threats to media freedom, and discrimination, releasing a 79-page reporter’s guide documenting human rights conditions across all three host countries ahead of the tournament’s June 11 opening. The guide, titled “Reporter’s Guide for the [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, warned Thursday that despite government efforts, structural challenges continue to undermine the safety of human rights defenders in Mexico, citing organized crime, state authorities, and business interests as driving forces behind ongoing attacks. In a statement issued by the Office of the UN [...]

El Salvador’s Fiscalia General de la Republica (Prosecutor General of the Republic) opened an unprecedented mass trial Monday against 486 alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, including founders and top-level commanders, charging them collectively with 47,000 crimes committed from 2012-2022, including 29,000 homicides. The Tribunal Sexto contra el Crimen Organizado (Sixth Tribunal against [...]

Peruvian presidential candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga of the ultra-conservative Renovacion Popular party alleged fraud on Sunday regarding the country’s April 12 general elections and demanded the Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) annul the results. This is despite presenting no evidence to support his claims and contradicting the findings of both domestic and international election observers. [...]

Peru’s National Office of Electoral Process (ONPE) extended presidential and congressional elections into a second day Monday after a private contractor failed to deliver ballots to dozens of polling stations across Lima, preventing more than 52,000 citizens from voting on time. The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE), Peru’s top electoral court, approved ONPE’s request for [...]