I remember that when I was a child, a platform had been built on a barren piece of land for executions. On nights when fog passed beside it, I would look at it with fear. I was afraid of it, yet I stared at it from a distance until we had passed it. Sometimes I [...]

When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth began publicly referring to himself as the Secretary of War and ordered Pentagon signage to reflect the historic title, many Americans assumed the United States had officially resurrected the pre‑1947 War Department. The imagery was striking: new placards at Pentagon entrances, press releases bearing the “Department of War” masthead, and [...]

The Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court on Friday to pause an order that would halt above-ground construction of a White House ballroom, arguing that the project is authorized by federal law and that a single district judge should not determine what measures are necessary to protect the president. Solicitor General D. John Sauer [...]

Two rival claims of control are hardening around the Strait of Hormuz. By Aug. 14, transit had almost ground to a standstill. Washington said it could maintain its blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely. Tehran continued to link a full reopening to steps by the United States, while Iran’s Parliament advanced a domestic framework for the [...]

The United Nations issued a statement Wednesday urging warring parties in Sudan to take tangible action to protect civilians as attacks continue in the country’s Blue Nile and North Kordofan states. The call comes as the war between rival militaries, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), continues with no clear [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Thursday criticized recently adopted changes to Türkiye’s juvenile justice system that could allow children to receive life sentences, urging authorities to ensure that the treatment of child offenders remains consistent with international human rights law. The UN rights chief stressed that even children accused or convicted [...]

The UN convened young people from across the world in New York on Wednesday to deliberate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance. Over 600 young people discussed how AI can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the delegates put forward a “Youth-led Declaration on AI Policy and Governance” that will direct the UN’s Global Digital [...]

A federal grand jury in Utah indicted a man Wednesday on a federal hate crime charge for allegedly stabbing a Muslim employee at a mall in an attack prosecutors say was motivated by the victim’s religion. Peter Michael Larsen, 48, was charged under 18 USC § 249 with willfully causing bodily injury because of the [...]

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Tuesday strongly condemned recent armed group attacks in the country’s Warrap state that left more than 60 civilians dead and at least 50 others injured. The peacekeeping mission described the attacks as deliberate targeting of non-combatants that may amount to war crimes under international law. According [...]

South Africa on Tuesday appealed to its fellow African governments to cover the full cost of deporting more than 80,000 undocumented migrants to their respective countries, presenting each nation with a bill for the airfare, ground transport, and processing of its citizens currently detained or awaiting removal from South African soil. According to the South [...]