Madrid-based human rights organization Safeguard Defenders (SD) published a report on Sunday alleging the practice of collective punishment as a political tool by the Chinese government against human rights defenders and their families on Sunday, which marked International Human Rights Day. The report, titled “FAMILIES IN FEAR: Collective Punishment in 21st Century China”, documents what [...]

The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, prompting a furious backlash from the international community. The vote followed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s invocation of Article 99 of the UN Charter, which forced a discussion on the humanitarian disaster currently unfolding in the region. Since early October [...]

The Texas Supreme Court placed an administrative stay on Friday on a lower court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) that barred the enforcement of the state’s strict abortion bans on a pregnant woman whose fetus was recently diagnosed with a fatal condition. The court placed an administrative stay on the TRO “pending further review” and “without [...]

Legal and human rights groups have filed a legal challenge with the UK’s High Court calling for the government to stop granting licenses for weapons exports to Israel, activists said on Thursday. Al-Haq, a Palestinian independent NGO that works on protecting and promoting human rights and the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, [...]

A US federal appeals court upheld on Friday a gag order against former President Donald Trump imposed by the district judge overseeing his criminal case in Washington DC. The US District Court of Appeals for DC agreed with the district judge that some gag order is needed in the case to ensure the “fair and [...]

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on Friday on the groundbreaking proposal for the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), marking the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing artificial intelligence. The primary objective of the AI Act is to regulate AI based on its potential risks to [...]

Dutch police arrested a 55-year-old Syrian refugee on Friday in the town of Druten in the province of Gelderland on suspicion of crimes against humanity, including complicity in torture and sexual violence in Syria during the civil war. This is the first time that the Netherlands has accused someone of committing crimes against humanity. The [...]

The Scottish Court of Session, Scotland’s supreme civil court, ruled on Friday that UK ministers acted lawfully when they blocked reforms proposed by the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Bill sought to allow people of Scotland to self-identify their gender and was passed in Scottish Parliament in December 2022.  The UK government previously invoked [...]

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned on Saturday the Russian Federation’s plans to hold presidential elections on occupied Ukrainian territory early next year, following the decision taken by Russian lawmakers on Friday. Russian authorities, in addition to setting a date for the presidential election, also announced that they plan to arrange voting in Donetsk, Luhansk, [...]

Indian politician Mahua Moitra was expelled from the lower house of the Parliament, known as the Lok Sabha, for indulging in “unethical conduct” and committing “serious misdemeanours” following a recommendation by the Ethics Committee. Moitra belongs to the opposition party, Trinamool Congress, headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee. The Ethics Committee Report accused [...]