India’s highest court ordered the state of Karnataka to share water with the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu on Monday. The two states have disputed rights to the Cauvery River for decades. Last week the court ruled that Karnataka must share 15,000 cubic feet per second for 10 days, but Karnataka appealed that decision. Karnataka [...]

The Syrian government and opposition groups began a ceasefire Monday following negotiations by the US and Russia. The ceasefire agreement was reached on Friday and although air strikes were carried out over the weekend, news outlets have reported calm after sunset Monday. If all parties abide by the ceasefire for seven days, the US and [...]

Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled Sunday that the implementation of a law allowing the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes is constitutional. The court handed down the decision after ruling against petitions filed by the Israel Medical Association and other groups contesting the law that had been introduced last year. The UN had [...]

The courts in China issued a statement Monday reiterating their dedication to human rights through the reformation of their criminal laws by upholding the presumption of innocence and the exclusion of illegally obtained evidence. This reformation comes as the UN has repeatedly criticized the country for the secrecy surrounding the judicial system and the manner [...]

In a press release issued on Friday, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyan , called upon Ukrainian officials to develop a comprehensive plan to address internally displaced persons (IDP), and provide durable solutions to the issue. Beyani urged the government “to intensify its efforts to protect the rights [...]

Tens of thousands of people marched in Mexico in protest of same-sex marriage Saturday, a controversial topic in the country exacerbated by a proposal from embattled President Enrique Peña Nieto to recognize same-sex marriage. The marches were organized by the National Front for the Family, an alliance of religious organizations and civil society groups, and [...]

A court in Kiel, Germany, ruled Friday that a 92-year-old woman charged with Nazi crimes is unfit to stand trial. The woman was identified only as Helma M. due to German privacy laws and is reportedly partially deaf, blind and suffering from an internal illness. Helma was charged with being an accessory to the murder [...]

A Volkswagen (VW) engineer pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to one count of conspiracy to defraud the US, commit wire fraud and violate the Clean Air Act by implementing software in the manufacturer’s vehicles that could cheat US emissions tests. James Robert Liang was indicted in the Eastern District of Michigan in June, [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday blocked a proof of citizenship requirement imposed upon voters by the states of Alabama, Georgia and Kansas. The court found that the parties challenging the requirement “have demonstrated irreparable harm, a likelihood of success on the merits, that the balance of equities [...]

Chelsea Manning, a former US soldier imprisoned for leaking classified documents, has gone on a hunger strike to protest her mistreatment at the Fort Leavenworth facility in Kansas where she has been imprisoned since her conviction in military court in 2013. Manning was convicted of leaking 700,000 classified government documents to WikiLeaks and has been [...]