According to an John McKissick at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Thursday, members of the Rohingya Muslim community have been subjected to numerous atrocities by troops in Myanmar, including execution, rape, starvation and displacement. McKissick said the widespread violence is part of an ongoing effort by the Burmese government to “ethnically cleanse” [...]

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Thursday expressed hope that a new peace deal between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government would help bring an end to a decades-old violent conflict in the nation. An official UN spokesman said: The Secretary-General hopes that Colombians will come together at this [...]

The UK has one of the highest levels of premature deaths from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution in the EU according to a 2015 report published Wednesday by the European Environment Agency (EEA) . According to the EEA while air quality is slowly improving around Europe it still remains the single largest environmental health hazard [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday reported that police at the Standing Rock site in North Dakota have used life-threatening weapons to control protesters over the last two days. The ACLU reports that tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, mace, and water cannons have been used on the protesters. The Morton Country Sherriff [...]

The European Parliament voted on Thursday to halt EU accession negotiations with Turkey due to the government’s “disproportionate repressive measures” after a failed coup in July. This vote is non-binding, but represents a strong message to the EU Ministers before their December meeting to discuss Turkey’s 11-year bid for membership. The MEPs stated that the [...]

In a 7.8% increase from 2014, 2.9 million patent applications were placed worldwide in 2015 according to a new report released Wednesday by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) . Over one million of those patents were filed in China, and over 500,000 were filed in the US. There was also a 26.6% increase [...]

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a 2014 Michigan law that gave the Michigan Natural Resources Commission and State Legislature the ability to name new game animals was unconstitutional. The Michigan Constitution contains a Title-Object Clause, which states “No law shall embrace more than one object, which shall be expressed in its title.” [...]

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that two Arizona identity theft laws used to support Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s workplace raids did not have discriminatory purpose and will remain on the books. US District Court Judge David Campbell’s ruling follows a 2014 lawsuit brought by civil-rights group, Puente Arizona , in which they alleged that [...]

The German Federal Constitutional Court said Wednesday that it cannot hear a case over Internet royalties to news content creators brought by Yahoo, Inc. The suit was filed as a reaction to Germany changing its copyright law in 2013. The new section 87f of the law gives news content creators the right to compensation from [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking an overtime reform rule that was to be implemented next week. The overtime rule , passed under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) , would raise the ceiling for those seeking to receive overtime compensation [...]