Vance Boelter, who was accused of murdering Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, pleaded guilty to federal charges Thursday. The plea agreement spares Boelter the federal death penalty. Instead, he will serve two consecutive life terms plus 40 years in prison for the conviction, which also includes the attempted murder of State [...]

The Supreme Court of British Columbia (BC) ruled on Friday that the city of Victoria can enact bylaws to vacate encampments within its authority. This ruling does not prevent the court from reviewing the bylaws’ constitutionality if the petitioners decide to make that challenge. Justice Jacqueline Hughes found that the BC Community Charter authorizes municipalities [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada held on Friday that the individual who holds the office of New Brunswick’s Lieutenant Governor must be able to perform official functions in both the country’s official languages: English and French. A unilingual appointee violates the equality of status between the two languages in the provincial government. Section 16(2) of [...]

The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, effectively blocking Paxton from pursuing a lawsuit against the Democratic Party’s fundraising platform, ActBlue. Federal Judge Richard Stearns chided Paxton for suing ActBlue in an effort to retaliate against the company for promoting and enabling contributions [...]

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said in a report on Thursday that X (formerly Twitter) had not obtained valid consent to collect users’ personal information before generating explicit deepfakes. The report said explicit deepfakes present an individual in their vulnerable states and are invasive in nature. Collection of sensitive personal information–sex life [...]

A UN human rights expert called Thursday for the Pakistani government to strengthen its protection of individuals with albinism, a marginalized group whose life experiences are deeply shaped by discrimination and a lack of social awareness about their condition. Additionally, severe health vulnerabilities from intense sun exposure are now exacerbated by climate change. In emphasizing [...]

A Canadian mother sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in California state court in San Francisco on Thursday, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her 24-year-old daughter Alice to commit suicide. The mother, Kristie Carrier, claims that Alice spoke with ChatGPT repeatedly about her suicidal ideations, but that the system did not flag the conversations. She [...]

UN rights experts on Thursday condemned the de facto Taliban government in Afghanistan for detaining 30 women for alleged dress code violations and using excessive force against protestors demonstrating against the restrictive dress codes in the city of Herat. The protests concerned “increasingly repressive restrictions” and the detention of multiple women for violating orders restricting [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to ensure that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanders who have defected to the Sudanese army are held accountable for their involvement in serious international crimes and human rights violations. RSF, a Sudanese paramilitary force that emerged from the Janjaweed militia active in Darfur [...]

The Katiba Institute (KI), together with the Law Society of Kenya (the Law Society), filed a contempt of court application in the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi on Wednesday against the Kenyan government for “openly, wilfully, deliberately, and contumaciously disobeying and violating” court orders demanding full disclosure of “documents, agreements, and safety protocols” in [...]