A federal judge has rejected the New York Police Department‘s (NYPD) proposed settlement of a lawsuit accusing the department of improperly surveying the Muslim community. Following the September 11 attacks, the NYPD has reportedly used undercover cops to monitor Muslim neighborhoods, organizations and mosques in the name of national security. Last year a settlement was [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau commenced an investigation on Tuesday into the human rights of migrants in Australia. Crépeau arrived in Australia to assess the migration programs, policies and laws developed by the Australian government in recent years. The UN investigator aborted a visit to the country last year [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from advocates for the homeless and the Ohio Democratic Party to block state election rules that could disqualify thousands of absentee and provisional ballots. The rules allow ballots with minor mistakes or omissions to be discounted. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted commented on the timing [...]

A UN human rights expert on Monday called for new approaches to prevent trafficking among increasing numbers of people fleeing conflict. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro , the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, released a full report detailing the prevalence and forms of trafficking among people in areas of conflict. Giammarinaro’s report corroborates a recent [...]

South Africa’s top prosecutor on Monday dropped fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan . Shaun Abrahams , an advocate for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) , said the decision comes after determining Gordhan did not intentionally act unlawfully. The announcement came amidst political battles in the country that have threatened financial markets and the [...]

Former Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner went before a judge Monday for questioning as part of the investigation into her alleged corruption for granting public works contracts. She was charged in federal court in May for manipulating the economy in order to resolve the country’s low foreign reserves. This is her first appearance in [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in the cases of Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools and Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. . In the Fry case, a Michigan school district refused to let a student with cerebral policy bring a trained service dog to school. The child’s parents filed a [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in five juvenile offender cases and simultaneously vacated and remanded to state court, to be reviewed in light of last term’s Montgomery v. Louisiana decision, which held that a landmark decision banning mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles should apply retroactively. The court reached that [...]

Representatives from the EU and Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on Sunday. CETA is designed to eliminate tariffs and foster investments and it is hoped that it will go a long way to job generation. However, although it has been signed and portions are expected to go into effect in 2017 [...]

Former president of El Salvador, Elias Antonio Saca , was arrested Sunday on allegations of embezzlement and money laundering. Six other officials were arrested as well. The Salvadoran Attorney General opened a corruption investigation into Saca in April due to an unjustified income of over USD $4 million dollars. According to prosecutors, Saca’s private secretary [...]