Russia President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed into law a bill that bans transgender people from obtaining gender-affirming surgeries in the country. The Russia Duma previously unanimously passed the bill on July 14. The new law prohibits surgery and hormone therapy for transgender individuals as well as any gender changes on official Russian documentation. The [...]
Peter Stager of Arkansas was sentenced Monday to 52 months in prison and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution in a District of Columbia courtroom for beating a police officer with a flag pole during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. In the criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of [...]
A shocking video from Manipur, India, has sparked national outrage. It shows a group of men brutally assaulting and parading two women belonging to the ethnic Kuki-Zo tribe, who were stripped naked. The incident occurred in May, following deadly ethnic riots between two communities. At least one of the women, age 21, was a victim [...]
Israel took a significant step closer to a constitutional crisis on July 24, 2023, when the controversial “Reasonableness Amendment” passed its final readings in the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset), becoming law by a 64-0 vote that occurred while the opposition left the Knesset in protest. The amendment aims to reshape the grounds for judicial review [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint Monday against the State of Texas over its construction of a floating barrier comprised of buoys on the Rio Grande, the river that serves as a border between Mexico and Texas. The suit follows communication from the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division to Texas Governor [...]
The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Uttar Pradesh state police conducted an operation Monday resulting in the arrest of 74 Rohingya Muslims who had allegedly entered India illegally from Myanmar and Bangladesh and settled in various districts in the western parts of the state. The ATS operation covered six local districts. Mathura recorded the highest [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on Monday calling on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release seven “arbitrarily detained” opposition figures. The seven detained individuals belong to the formerly banned Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). HRW claims their detainment is politically motivated. The seven OLF figures were arrested in 2020 and 2021. Since then they have [...]
Rights groups and civil society organisations in Kenya called Sunday for the urgent reconstitution of the country’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the full repeal of the controversial Finance Act 2023 in a bid to calm the hot political climate in the country. Their call came after widespread demonstrations last week against the incumbent [...]
“It must not be forgotten that it is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.” —Guillaume Apollinaire, “The New Spirit and the Poets” (1917) Nuclear weapons remain unique in the history of warfare and corresponding international law. Even a single instance of nuclear war-fighting could signify [...]
UNESCO released a statement Sunday condemning Russian strikes on Odesa, Ukraine, which allegedly damaged several World Heritage Sites, including the first Orthodox Christian church built in Odesa, the Transfiguration Cathedral. Ukraine is home to eight locations on the World Heritage List. UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated: This outrageous destruction marks an escalation of violence against [...]
