Paris Criminal Court sentenced Friday in absentia three high-ranking Syrian officials to life for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, reported the International Federation for Human Rights. The defendants were Ali Mamlouk, advisor to President Bashar Al-Assad and former head of the National Security Bureau, Jamil Hassan, former head of the Syrian Air [...]

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) approved a groundbreaking new treaty relating to intellectual property, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge on Friday at a diplomatic conference in Geneva. The objective of this Treaty is to enhance the efficacy, transparency and quality of the patent system, and prevent patents from being granted [...]

The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office formally charged former President Álvaro Uribe with witness tampering and procedural fraud on Friday. This development occurred during the Accusation Hearing held in the 44th Penal Circuit Court of Bogotá. The hearing, presided over by Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia, saw Uribe’s defense team’s request for nullification of the proceedings swiftly rejected. [...]

US organization Missions in Haiti announced Friday that three of their members were shot and killed by a gang in Haiti. The Oklahoma-based group reported that married couple Davy and Natalie Lloyd, alongside Mission director Jude Montis, were ambushed as they left church in Port-au-Prince on Thursday evening. All three worked for Missions in Haiti, [...]

Thousands of people gathered in Spain’s Balearic Islands on Saturday to protest against mass tourism ahead of the upcoming summer season. Tourist numbers in the Spanish archipelago this summer are forecasted to exceed last year’s 14.4 million, as reported by the Spanish National Statistics Institute. Protesters carried posters and signs that read “SOS Residents, Enough [...]

Kosovo’s parliament approved on Thursday a deal to lease 300 jail cells to Denmark as aid to the Scandinavian country’s overcrowded prisons problem. Signed in 2021, the deal only became a treaty in April 2024. It excludes Danish nationals and mentally-ill convicts and allows only foreigners convicted in Denmark to be sent to Kosovo. The [...]

Nearly 80,000 demonstrators protested outside Taiwan’s parliament on Friday to voice their dissent towards controversial parliamentary reforms proposed by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party and the Taiwan’s People’s Party (TPP). The gathering was the third and largest rally around these reforms, marking a continuation of Tuesday’s protests and coinciding with the second reading of the two [...]

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday adopted a resolution calling on states to respect and protect the United Nations and humanitarian personnel as per international law. Resolution 2730 (2024), which was proposed by Switzerland and went through a detailed discussion on Tuesday, was adopted by a 14-0 vote along with an abstention from [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Alice Jill Edwards urged the Israeli government on Thursday to look into numerous allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against detained Palestinians since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7, 2023. Edwards emphasized the importance of humane treatment toward detainees and [...]

UK digital music distributor Emubands Ltd. removed the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” from music platforms such as iTunes and Apple Music in many regions, DGX Music said on Friday. The move follows an interlocutory injunction by the Hong Kong Court of Appeal to restrain any activities associated with the song on May 8. [...]