Spain’s High Court accepted appeals to reopen formal investigations Monday into Chairman Antonio Brufau and former Chairman Isidro Faine of Spain-based corporations Repsol and Caixabank, respectively. Judge Manuel Garcia Castellon had dismissed investigations into Brufau, Faine, Repsol and Caixabank in July. Castellon was previously investigating Brufau and Faine for links to bribery in connection with [...]

A Netherlands court Monday set aside amnesty and decided to continue the pre-trial detention of a Dutch ex-army member suspected of war crimes, including the murder of civilians during Suriname’s internal war. The 55-year-old Suriname-born Dutchman was arrested in Amsterdam in October 2021 on the basis of an investigation that indicated he murdered several Surinamese [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced Monday that Qatar had imposed travel bans on four prominent Qatari citizens without a clear legal basis. The men reported to HRW that security authorities were applying the travel bans outside of legal procedure and in apparent defiance of court orders. Qatar’s state security apparatus holds extensive powers under the [...]

The Department of Justice Monday partially unsealed a 21-count indictment of China-based telecommunications company Hytera Communications Corp. LTD on charges of conspiring to commit theft of trade secrets of rival Motorola Solutions Inc. The 15 trade secrets, which constitute the core subject of Monday’s federal indictment, pertain to the source code, design and implementation of operation [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday lamented the four-year trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that failed to uncover the complete truth behind the 2017 murders of two UN experts, Zaida Catalán and Michael Sharpe, and their Congolese interpreter and motorbike drivers. Zaida Catalán, a Swedish-Chilean citizen, and Michael Sharpe, an American citizen, were [...]

Israel’s Public Security Minister, Omer Barlev, announced Monday that he will set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the Israeli police’s alleged use of NSO group’s Pegasus spyware for illicit surveillance of citizens. Barlev initially denied that the Israeli police used the spyware for illegal surveillance following allegations by Israeli news portal Calcalist’s investigative [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Monday publicly released a letter that found Pennsylvania’s court system violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because it prohibited or limited individuals under court supervision from taking medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD). The DOJ opened an investigation after receiving complaints from two individuals alleging that the [...]

The US Supreme Court reinstated Alabama’s new congressional map Monday, which had previously been blocked by a lower court for violating § 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). In November 2021, two lawsuits were filed challenging the congressional map on the grounds that the map unlawfully dilutes African-American voting strength because the map has [...]

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa Monday released an expert report to the public regarding the July 2021 civil unrest in South Africa. The review was delivered to Ramaphosa on November 29, 2021 by a panel including Professor Sandy Africa as chair, advocate Mojankunyane Gumbi and former national intelligence officer Silumko Sokupa. Civil unrest erupted in [...]

A labor rights workforce led by US Vice President Kamala Harris revealed recommendations Monday aimed at strengthening the capacities of workers to unionize, stating that “strong worker organization can result … in a stronger economy and democracy.” The Harris-led Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment had initially presented the recommendations to US President Joe [...]