A UN human rights investigator reported Monday that Israel is depriving millions of Palestinians of access to a regular supply of clean water while stripping their lands of minerals “in an apparent act of pillage.” Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk highlighted the Palestinians’ right to water, natural resources and the environment. “Israel had maintained a hermetic [...]
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged Thursday in a court filing that Volkswagen (VW) “perpetrated a massive fraud” and repeatedly lied to U.S. investors in connection with the company’s emissions scandal. According to the SEC’s complaint, from April 2014 to May 2015, VW issued over $13 billion in bonds and asset-backed securities [...]
Congressional Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced the Equality Act, which, if signed into law, would be the first federal law protecting LGBTQ+ Americans. “In most states in this country, a gay couple can be married on Saturday, post their wedding photos to Instagram on Sunday, and lose their jobs or get kicked out of their apartments [...]
Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan posted on Facebook Monday that his wife has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes as results of two open cases. Sotoudeh has been charged with spreading information against the state, insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader and spying. Last year Sotoudeh represented a number of [...]
Colombian President Ivan Duque said Sunday he objects to several articles in legislation implementing a 2016 ceasefire agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, ignoring warnings by supporters of peace and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Duque objected to six of the 159 articles in the so-called Special Jurisdiction for Peace [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human rights Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday reported on human rights issues surrounding women, conflicts and inequalities at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Today, allow me to voice my concern at the apparently arbitrary arrest and detention, and alleged ill-treatment or torture, of several women human rights defenders in Saudi [...]
Meng Wanzhou, the Chief Financial Officer of Chinese technology giant Huawei, filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Canadian government, its border agency and federal police, alleging she was “detained, searched and interrogated” for three hours in violation of her constitutional rights. The suit alleges that members of Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Border [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday denied the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an international organization, “absolute immunity” from lawsuits in the US. About 10 years ago, IFC, an IOIA international organization, entered into a loan agreement with an Indian company to finance the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Gujarat. Local farmers, fishermen and [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday held that the US Department of Education’s (DOE) reversal of certain determinations under the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, made before the borrowers’ completion of all 120 monthly loan payments, did not adhere to notice standards mandated under the [...]
The US Supreme Court held Wednesday in Dawson v. Steager that West Virginia tax policy that taxes the pension of a retired federal marshal but not of state and local law enforcement violates 4 USC § 111. After James Dawson retired from the US Marshals Service, his home state, West Virginia, taxed his federal pension [...]
