The US military Tuesday announced a Russian fighter jet collided with and downed a US drone over the Black Sea. The US claims Russia downed the drone in international airspace while it was acting in accordance with international law. However, Russia says the drone violated a “temporary airspace regime” established around the Crimean Peninsula following [...]

The Australian Disability Royal Commission Tuesday published their final progress report for 2022, detailing findings on the challenges people with disabilities face in public spaces, including sexual abuse, assault and discrimination. The report details the findings of seven public hearings conducted between July and December of 2022. Public Hearing 28 focused on the violence and [...]

The Supreme Court of India on Monday ordered a special constitutional panel of five judges to consider a series of petitions related to same-sex marriage. The 15 petitions at issue were filed by same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ activists between 2020 and 2022. Collectively, they aim to change provisions in the secular Special Marriage Act (SMA) [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Counter-Terrorism, Fionnuala Aoláin, Tuesday expressed concern that digital technologies used to combat terrorism contribute to human rights violations around the world. The expert’s report highlighted several avenues through which counter-terrorism arguments are used to encourage the development and use of biometric [...]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday proposed a regulation to limit the amount of six different per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. The regulation would set the maximum contaminant level at 4 parts per trillion for any individual PFAS or mixture of multiple PFAS. The proposed regulation would also require public water systems [...]

The Ohio Ballot Board Monday voted to move forward with a proposed ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state’s constitution. The measure would amend Article I of the Ohio Constitution by adding a section called, “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.” Now, abortion rights activists who are working to [...]

The Biden administration Monday officially approved the Willow Project, an $8 billon oil development project proposed by ConocoPhillips in the Alaskan arctic. While proponents of the project lauded the decision as a crucial source of job creation and revenue, some environmental groups and lawmakers derided the project as a “carbon bomb,” which severely undercuts President [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Monday found that Apple can proceed with a  lawsuit against the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to challenge a set of instructions given by the PTO Director to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board about patentability reviews. Apple, Cisco, Google, and Intel filed a lawsuit [...]

The FBI Monday released new hate crime statistics which showed an 11.6 percent rise in hate crimes from 2020 to 2021. A transition to a new reporting system meant that there was an initial decrease in data recorded in the FBI’s annual report. The supplemental report released Monday provides “a more complete picture” of reported [...]

Iranian Judicial Chief Gholem-Hossein Mohseni Monday announced that more than 82,000 people have been pardoned, including more than 22,000 people arrested after participating in anti-government protests. Mohseni made the announcement in an interview with the website of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The state-affiliated Islamic Republic News Agency detailed that this pardon was based on a [...]