The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) , China’s top legislature, passed a resolution Saturday easing the countries one-child population control policy. The major policy change is expected to be implemented gradually with the NPC entrusting provincial congresses and their standing committees to make their own decisions on implementation based on demographic conditions [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Shubhankar Dam of the Singapore Management University School of Law says that Indian Supreme Court has dangerously rolled back the clock on LGBT rights, threatening the ongoing process of progressive reform in Asia …

The government of South Sudan on Friday offered to immediately cease fighting with the rebels, but warned that its forces would not hesitate to defend themselves in the event of an attack. Violence began after ethnic Dinka, loyal to President Salva Kiir , and Nuer soldiers, following former vice president Riek Machar , clashed on [...]

A federal judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on Friday that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) PRISM program, which includes massive collection of American citizens’ telephone records, is legal. Judge William H. Pauley III ruled that the program was permitted under Section 215 of the Patriot Act [...]

The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Thursday unanimously reversed the conviction of a priest for his failure to protect children from a sexual predator and ordered he be released from prison. Monsignor William Lynn, the first senior US Roman Catholic Church official to be found guilty for covering up child sex abuse by a priest, was [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged the Chinese government to drop all politically motivated charges against Xu Zhiyong and release the rights activist from prison. Xu, a prominent critic of China’s one-party system and founder of the nongovernmental New Citizen’s Movement , was arrested in April and faces five years in prison for organizing [...]

African leaders met Thursday in South Sudan for closed-door talks about ending the fighting that began in the country earlier this month. Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn met with South Sudan President Salva Kiir in the capital city of Juba with a focus on ending the armed conflict that has [...]

Thailand’s government on Thursday rejected calls to postpone the upcoming February elections despite violent protests that have left a police officer dead and nearly 100 people injured. The Election Commission of Thailand made the request over fears for the safety of candidates on the campaign trail after anti-government protesters, who want the government to be [...]

Egypt’s interim government on Wednesday officially declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group following the bombing of a police station earlier this week that killed 16 people. The official label allows the government to prosecute any member of the party, including anyone giving money to the party. The announcement, which sparked protests and demonstrations across [...]

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday named ten new members of his cabinet following the resignation of three members under investigation for graft. Nine of the ten new cabinet ministers are members of the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) . Erdogan picked his undersecretary, an unelected official, to run the [...]