Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed Tuesday a bill permitting physician assisted death. This was the second time that Sousa vetoed the bill, which sought to amend Portugal’s Criminal Code to allow doctors to assist terminally ill patients with ending their lives. Upon rejecting the bill, Sousa sent a letter to the President of [...]
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced Monday that it was increasing resources for humanitarian aid for migrants on the Poland-Belarus border, in addition to providing additional options for repatriation and voluntary return to their home countries. The IOM estimates that there are currently 2,000 migrants on the border and that many are vulnerable to [...]
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Monday disclosed its decision to impose a penalty of over £17 million on Clearview AI for breaching UK data protection laws. The ICO conducted a joint investigation with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to determine how Clearview AI has been using images data scraped from the [...]
The Botswana Court of Appeal in a unanimous full bench decision Monday upheld a 2019 High Court of Botswana judgment that struck down penal provisions criminalizing same-sex sexual relations. Judge President Kirby, speaking for Justices Ranowane, Lesetedi, Gaongalelwe and Garekwe, dismissed the appeal filed by the attorney general against the high court’s judgment in Letsweletse Motshidiemang [...]
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres, at the second session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on Monday, called on all Middle East states to put into reality the vision of a region with no weapons of mass destruction. Guterres stated [...]
Human Rights Watch released a report Sunday stating that the Central African Republic government should coordinate with UN peacekeepers to ensure that war crimes suspect Hassan Bouba is returned to custody. Bouba, a minister and former rebel group leader in the Central African Republic, was released from detention in defiance of court orders and escorted [...]
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Sunday announced that his administration will introduce legislation to require social media companies to have “proper processes” to take down abusive or trolling content to dismantle the “shield of anonymity” that emboldens bigots online. In a press conference broadcast by ABC Australia, Morrison asserted that all people should feel safe online. [...]
Voters in Switzerland approved Sunday the government’s new COVID-19 measures in a referendum. In September 2020, the Swiss Parliament passed the COVID-19 Act to respond to the global medical crisis and protect the Swiss economy. In March 2021, Parliament altered the Act to include contact tracing, government-supported testing, and “expanded financial support to those affected by [...]
The Second Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court in Buenos Aires opened a case against the Myanmar military Saturday over atrocities committed against the Rohingyas. In 2017, the Myanmar military and its proxies launched a vicious campaign in the region. A report by the Anadolu Agency shows that nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed, 34,000 [...]
The State Council of China amended its tobacco monopoly law Friday to include regulations for e-cigarettes and vaping. This result comes after months of deliberation by the Chinese government to regulate electronic tobacco consumption. E-cigarette sales have been functioning in the grey area of the law since they became popular in China. Following the amendment, [...]
