California Governor Gavin Newsom Tuesday signed a new law which allows California residents to sue gun manufacturers if they are harmed by a gun manufacturer’s product. The law also establishes new firearms regulations and empowers the state and its local governments to sue manufactures if they do not comply. Assembly Bill No. 1594 (AB 1594) [...]

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Office of Civil Rights Wednesday issued a legal guidance warning the country’s 60,000 retail pharmacies that refusing to fill prescriptions for medication that can be used for abortion violates federal civil rights law. The guidance clarifies that under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act: As [...]

Russia’s Basmanny District Court of Moscow Wednesday arrested opposition politician Ilya Yashin over allegations that Yashin willfully spread misinformation about Russia’s military, a charge Yashin denies and human rights organizations call politically motivated. Yashin faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted and will be kept in detention for two months while he awaits [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday announced the creation of a Reproductive Rights Task Force to help protect reproductive rights after the landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade was overturned. The task force will monitor all state and local legislatures that violate federal protections for seeking reproductive care. It will ensure the rights [...]

More than 1,000 children have been sexually exploited in Telford, England, since 1989 due to police negligence, an independent inquiry reported Tuesday. The final report from the Independent Inquiry into Telford Child Sexual Exploitation (IITCSE) shows how the West Mercia police force and local government did not adequately respond to cases of child sexual exploitation. [...]

A Minnesota district court ruled Monday that state “abortion laws relating to mandated physician care, hospitalization, criminalization, parental notification, and informed consent are unconstitutional” under Minnesota’s State Constitution. The court found that nine Minnesota laws violated the right to privacy and do not withstand judicial scrutiny. Additionally the court found that the state’s parental notification [...]

Four residents of the Indonesian island of Pulau Pari Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Switzerland against Swiss cement giant Holcim over the effects of climate change on the island. Swiss Church Aid (HEKS), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and Indonesian group WALHI are backing the lawsuit. The residents claim that climate change has caused [...]

British citizens Matthew Hedges and Ali Issa Ahmad Tuesday submitted sworn statements and testified to the UN’s Committee Against Torture (CAT) that they had been tortured by authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE joined the UN Convention against Torture in 2012 and is therefore subject to its first compliance review, which is [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday struck down a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order which required broadcasters verify sponsors’ identities before leasing them air time. Prior to the order, FCC rules only required a broadcaster to ask its employees and sponsors for enough information to identify the sponsor. The [...]

The City of San Francisco Tuesday reached a $58 million settlement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and AbbVie’s Allergan unit over claims that the companies fueled an opioid epidemic in the city. San Francisco alleged that pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Teva and AbbVie’s Allergan “fueled a widespread surge of opioid-related addiction and overdoes in San Francisco, [...]