Afghanistan’s Justice Ministry reiterated Monday that the country’s independent lawyers will need to re-certify under a new qualification process ser by the Ministry, signaling the intent of the Taliban authorities to plough ahead with plans to strip the country’s legal profession of its independence. According to the statement, the country’s lawyers will be authorized to [...]

Claimants wishing to accuse national governments of violations before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR, Court) will have shorter timeframes within which to file their complaints, according to a statement released by the Court on Monday. The ECHR has jurisdiction over the 47 Council of Europe member states that have ratified the European Convention on [...]

In an exceptional instance of diplomatic harmony, China, France, Russia, the UK and the US released a joint statement Monday advocating for nuclear non-proliferation, and citing the historic refrain, “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” The statement, which urged the imperative of compliance with international nuclear security accords, was issued as [...]

On Friday, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $60 million as a preliminary settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against it for allegedly failing to secure customers’ personal data before retiring old information technology, Reuters reported. The settlement offer awaits the approval of New York District Judge Analisa Torres.  The lawsuit was filed on behalf [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the launch of the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) Monday. Former President Donald Trump signed the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act into law on June 16, 2020. The Act gave the Attorney General one year to establish the LESDC. According the text of the Act, the FBI [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Georgia, claiming that the state’s newly-drawn state House and Senate districts disadvantage Black voters. The complaint notes that Georgia is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, with much of that growth driven by an increase in the Black population which [...]

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Jordan announced in a press conference with Jordanian media Sunday that 5,500 Syrian refugees had left Jordan and returned to Syria in 2021, a small fraction of the total number of Syrian refugees living in Jordan. The UNHCR stated that while many more wished to return to Syria [...]

The Child Tax Credit, a key policy piece for the Biden Administration, lapsed Friday amid a congressional standoff over HR 5376, the Build Back Better Act. The tax credit would have been renewed for 2022 if the US Senate passed the Act before the end of 2021. The American Rescue Plan, passed in March 2021, [...]

Sudan Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned Sunday, as widespread pro-democracy protests rocked the country. The protestors condemned the October coup that initially unseated Hamdok from the position of prime minister, as well as the deal that brought him back to power about four weeks later, calling it an impermissible concession to military rule. He resigned [...]

US President Joe Biden spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday to discuss Russia’s troop buildup near its Ukraine border and vowed Washington and its allies would “respond decisively” if Russia invades Ukraine, according to a White House statement. Russia currently has amassed some 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine, according to analysts. [...]