The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on Thursday adopted the first report by the International Fact-Finding Mission on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory which concluded that a multitude of violations have occurred. Titled “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan,” UN resolution 19/17 states [...]

Israeli forces should cease its use of live ammunition against civilians that may constitute excessive use of force, according to a statement released on Wednesday by UN Humanitarian Coordinator James Rawley. He expressed concern over the increasing number of civilians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank . It was reported that since [...]

A Moscow City Court on Wednesday denied an appeal by Russian feminist rock group Pussy Riot , continuing a ban on the group’s videos from the Internet. The court deemed the band’s videos questioning the role of religion in Russian government “extremist.” Critics claim that the ban is violating the group’s free speech rights. However, [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled Wednesday that sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole is unconstitutional. Judge John Corbett O’Meara found that last year’s Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama , which held that mandatory life sentences for juveniles constituted cruel and unusual punishment, [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that Hungary violated the European Convention on Human Rights by discriminating against Roma children and wrongly placing them in remedial schools. Istvan Horvath and Andras Kiss, two Roma men from the town of Nyiregyhaza, filed their claim 2006, stating that they were discriminated against and isolated [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on Tuesday that Samsung did not willfully infringe Apple patents. If Samsung was found to have willfully infringed Apple’s patents, the $1.05 billion jury verdict against it could have been increased up to triple that amount . The judge’s ruling partially [...]

Former Illinois governor George Ryan was transferred Wednesday to home confinement to serve the remainder of his six-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed after several corruption-related convictions in 2006. The ex-governor was originally sent to a Chicago halfway house early Wednesday morning but was released within hours after his arrival. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons [...]

Retired Michigan Supreme Court justice Diane Hathaway pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony bank fraud as part of a plea agreement . The charges arose from Hathaway deeding her home in Florida to a relative while negotiating a short sale on the home, resulting in a $600,000 debt they owed to their bank being erased. [...]

The UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday expressed regret that the Israeli government failed to send a representative to the Council’s review of Israel’s human rights record. The council had planned to begin its review of Israel’s human rights record on Tuesday, as part of a two-week session in which the council is scheduled to [...]

The Dutch District Court of The Hague ruled Wednesday that a subsidiary of Shell could be held liable to one farmer for damages resulting from polluting the Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria. However, the court dismissed four other claims brought by farmers and fishermen, along with Friends of the Earth Netherlands , against Shell [...]