UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a statement on Saturday condemning the most recent violence in Syria, and expressing concern over how it has been affecting the civilian population. Ban called upon both parties to make greater efforts to avoid civilian casualties and emphasized that the government of Syria has obligations to protect civilians in their [...]

A judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled that Google Inc. must follow the FBI’s warrantless requests for user information through national security letters (NSLs) . The ruling, which was issued on May 20, was released to the public on Friday. Under 18 USC § 2709 , the [...]

The pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday rejected a challenge by the Libyan government to the court’s jurisdiction over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi , the son of Libya’s deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi . The ICC ordered the Libyan government to turn over Saif al-Islam, who is currently being held in Zintan, Libya, [...]

The Nigerian House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill making same-sex marriage a crime punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison. Further, any person who witnesses, aids, or abets same-sex marriages; operates gay organizations; or engages in same-sex public displays of affection could be punished by up to 10 years in jail. [...]

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) on Thursday urged El Salvador to allow doctors to perform medical procedures necessary to saving a 22-year-old woman’s life, including an abortion, despite the country’s Supreme Court decision Wednesday denying the woman’s appeal. El Salvador banned all abortions in 1999. However, the woman suffers from lupus and kidney [...]

Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court on Friday imposed a July 31 election deadline and ordered President Robert Mugabe to announce a date soon. The ruling came in response to a case filed by a citizen in an attempt to get Mugabe to announce election dates. Rights activist Jealousy Mawarire had originally sought elections by June 29. Chief [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona (ACLU-AZ) filed a lawsuit Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Arizona seeking to permanently enjoin a state law that penalizes doctors, not patients, who perform abortions when the patient’s decision is based solely on the gender or race of the fetus. The lawsuit was [...]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) acquitted two former Serbian secret police officials Thursday for their involvement in war crimes during the Bosnian Civil War . The court found that the prosecution failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused, Jovica Stanisic , a close ally of late Serbian president [...]

The Connecticut Senate approved legislation Thursday that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses regardless of documentation status. If signed by Governor Dannel Malloy , the bill would allow those immigrants without proper documents from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services office the ability to obtain a driver’s license for the purpose of highway [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women Rashida Manjoo on Thursday urged the government of Bangladesh to address the prevalent acts of violence against women occurring in the country. Manjoo noted that while the most pervasive form of violence against women in the country is domestic violence, a number of women have also been victims [...]