The US saw a slight increase in new death sentences in 2024 while executions remained near historic lows, according to a year-end report released Thursday by the Death Penalty Information Center. Twenty-six new death sentences were handed down in 2024, up from the previous year, though the overall death row population continued its decades-long decline [...]
The United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW) issued findings Wednesday regarding Benin, Egypt, Peru and Seychelles’ adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers. The findings come shortly after the committee concluded its 39th session. In its evaluations, the [...]
France’s supreme court, the Cour de Cassation, upheld a Paris Court of Appeals ruling on Wednesday, confirming the conviction of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, sentencing him to a year under electronic monitoring. Sarkozy, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty in March 2021 by [...]
The US Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider South Carolina’s efforts to bar taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood. In Kerr v. Planned Parenthood, the court will decide: “Whether the Medicaid Act’s any-qualified-provider provision unambiguously confers a private right upon a Medicaid beneficiary to choose a specific provider.” The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth [...]
Human Rights Watch released a report on Thursday accusing Israeli authorities of intentionally depriving Palestinian civilians in Gaza of adequate access to water since October 2023. This systematic obstruction is said to have caused or contributed to “thousands of deaths,” and is part of a policy aimed at “inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring [...]
Montreal city police launched an investigation on Wednesday into an arson attack that targeted the Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue and Jewish community center, as well as the offices of Federation CJA, a Jewish philanthropic organization, in the Dollard-des-Ormeaux suburb the previous night. The incident involved an incendiary device that caused minor damage, including broken glass [...]
In a significant move, the Swiss parliament has officially recognized the atrocities committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) against Iraq’s Yazidi community as constituting genocide. The motion, passed on Tuesday, condemns the systematic expulsion, rape and murder of Yazidis, and the destruction of their cultural sites. The majority of the Swiss National Council voted in [...]
A joint report released Wednesday by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed a pattern of arbitrary detention in South Sudan as well as human rights abuses committed by both government security forces and organized armed groups. The report, which covers the [...]
The Supreme Court of Ghana on Wednesday dismissed constitutional challenges launched against a bill that criminalizes LGBTQ+ expression and advocacy. In a televised ruling, Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson spoke for a unanimous court and cited the constitutional separation of powers between the judiciary, president and legislature as the primary reason for dismissal. She provided that the bill [...]
The US Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear TikTok’s challenge against a federal law that could force the shutdown of its platform next month. TikTok filed an emergency petition Monday challenging the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Signed into law in April as part of a broader appropriations package, the act prohibits [...]
