The US must place human rights at the forefront of its diplomatic agenda as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Washington this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. “Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is trying to rebrand himself as a global statesman, but the reality at home is mass repression, record numbers of [...]

UN experts, including the special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, cautioned on Tuesday that a pending amendment to Peru’s General Law on Persons with Disabilities risks reversing progress toward de-institutionalization and independent living for people with disabilities. The experts expressed concern that the new text opens the door to the creation of [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday reported that large-scale immigration raids in Los Angeles, carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies this year, violated Latino residents’ civil rights and utilized racial profiling. According to the organization, since May ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal law enforcement [...]

A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday halted the Trump administration’s plans to layoff thousands of federal employees in the wake of the government shutdown, ruling that the administration may not proceed with any new reductions-in-force (RIF) notices issued as a result of the shutdown. US District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District [...]

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Upgrade Protocol, or CAFTA 3.0, in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, marking the latest step in regional economic integration. The protocol, signed by Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and ASEAN economic ministers, updates a framework that first entered into force [...]

Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-born US permanent resident and activist, appeared Monday in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit seeking to affirm a lower court’s ruling that blocked his deportation and authorized his release from detention. His legal team from the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) argues that the United States Department of [...]

A judge in Illinois prohibited civil arrests of court attendees absent a judicial warrant or judicial order on Tuesday. Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans of the Circuit Court of Cook County issued a General Administrative Order that bars civil arrests unrelated to court business for individuals traveling to, present in, or leaving court proceedings in [...]

The United Nations on Thursday urged restraint following a series of US air and naval strikes in the southern Caribbean that have heightened tensions with Venezuela. During a Security Council meeting, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča stated that the UN cannot independently confirm US claims that the strikes targeted drug-trafficking vessels. He added that the events [...]

A coalition of labor unions, nonprofit organizations and solar companies filed suit Monday against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), challenging the agency’s termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program. The suit claims that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin exceeded statutory authority when he withdrew program funding in August. Plaintiffs argued that Congress only permitted [...]

A coalition of more than 25 US cities and counties filed suit Monday to challenge new conditions on federal emergency management grants, alleging that the Trump administration has unlawfully threatened $350 million in congressionally approved FEMA and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funds. Plaintiffs filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of [...]