Approximately 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens have been displaced during the country’s conflict with Russia, the UN estimated Thursday. The Ukraine-Russia conflict has been ongoing from 2014. Many residents of towns, which have been damaged as a result of the conflict, have had to flee their homes and livelihoods. Over 4,000 displaced families are now living [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday “gross negligence” and violations of due process in the investigations of four politically sensitive murders that reveal donations failed to strengthen the rule of law in Lebanon. This comes a year after the assassination of pro-democracy activist Lokman Slim. The four murders were of Byblos Bank ethics department head [...]

UN agencies warned Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse decades of global progress in stamping out female genital mutilation. The warning comes just days before the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6. The World Health Organization has defined female genital mutilation as involving the partial or total removal [...]

Seven judges of the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled Thursday that claims against employers for statutory damages under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) were not barred by the exclusivity provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA). In the 2017 case of Marquita McDonald v Symphony Bronzeville Park, LLC, the plaintiff filed a putative class action [...]

At a summit on public safety Thursday, President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new efforts to fight violent crime at the local level. This is part of the administration’s comprehensive strategy to prevent and respond to gun crime, announced in May 2021. Hours after Biden told every US Attorney’s Office in the [...]

The Brazilian Federal Police on Wednesday found that President Jair Bolsonaro committed a criminal offense for breach of secrecy, by publicly leaking details of an ongoing criminal investigation. However, it is unlikely he will face any legal consequences while in office given his presidential immunity. Federal police detective Denisse Ribeiro noted in a report sent [...]

US Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced Wednesday the Fair College Admissions for Students Act to Congress. The bill, which would prohibit legacy and donor status preference in college admissions, was introduced as SB 3559 in the Senate and HR 6559 in the House of Representatives. In an effort to make the college admissions [...]

Amnesty International stated Wednesday that at least 20 Latin American human rights defenders and four journalists were killed in January 2022 alone. In a statement, Amnesty International explained how these killings signal a frightening future for human rights defenders and journalists. Human rights defenders were killed in four countries. There were 13 killed in Colombia, [...]

A California gun safety bill introduced on Wednesday would require parents to disclose if guns are kept at their homes and would require searches of a student’s personal property on campus if there is a credible threat. The bill is aimed at prioritizing student safety and helping prevent school shootings. Senator Anthony Portantino decided to [...]

The US Army, per a department memorandum Wednesday, said it will begin to immediately discharge soldiers who refuse to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. This move follows similar discharge orders for vaccine refusers among the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. Approximately 3,300 active-duty service members are eligible for removal if they fail to [...]