The Supreme Court Friday granted review of Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, a case that will help determine the scope of a ruling from two years ago regarding major crimes committed in Indian country. In 2020 the justices decided McGirt v. Oklahoma, which held that a large portion of eastern Oklahoma, in fact remains an Native American [...]

The chief of Frontex Friday called for the European Union to provide clearer rules on striking a balance between the human rights of asylum seekers and greater border protection. Frontex Border and Coastguard Agency which engages in border control, including preventing human trafficking and smuggling, were scrutinized for violating human rights. Cases under review include Lithuania, [...]

The National Council of Austria Thursday passed a bill making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for all adults in the country. If approved by the upper house and signed into law by the President, the bill will come into force on February 1, making Austria the first European country to introduce a vaccine mandate. The Austrian government first announced [...]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Thursday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to increase network security monitoring for high and medium-impact bulk power systems to protect against cyberattacks. Existing Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) reliability standards focus on the security perimeter of computer networks, and there is concern that those standards do not address vulnerabilities [...]

A consortium of 25 civil society organisations Wednesday published a letter sent to Facebook on January 3 2021, against the delayed release of the India Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) report and lack of action towards addressing grave concerns about the company’s human rights record in India. The letter was sent to the Facebook Director [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas Friday blocked the Biden administration’s federal employee vaccine requirement. US President Joe Biden signed an executive order in September requiring all federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A lawsuit was filed in December. In blocking enforcement of the order Friday, Judge [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Thursday ruled that two California counties violated the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms when the counties forced gun shops and firing ranges to close in 2020 to limit the spread of COVID-19. The National Rifle Association and pro-gun groups sued California in [...]

The French National Assembly Thursday adopted a resolution condemning Chinese political and humanitarian crimes against China’s Uyghur Muslim minority. The resolution calls on the French government to formalize its stance on the genocidal nature of the crisis, a position already taken by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands. According to the resolution, France’s [...]

European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski Thursday called for additional restrictions on political advertising to be included in a group of new legislation adopted by the European Commission. The legislation concerned is the “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertisements.” Wiewiórowski’s opinion explained [...]

The US Supreme Court Thursday reinforced the Sixth Amendment right of criminal defendants to cross-examine prosecution witnesses in an 8-1 decision. The case, Hemphill v. New York, originated with the 2006 shooting death of a two-year-old in the Bronx. New York prosecutors originally charged Nicholas Morris with the murder, as the same caliber gun used in [...]