Indian President Droupadi Murmu assented Thursday to a bill intended to oversee the appointment, terms of service and duration of office for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs). The bill has raised concerns about potential government dominance in the process, potentially risking the Election Commission’s independence. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other [...]
The US Department of the Treasury on Thursday sanctioned a network comprising an individual and three currency exchange entities based in Yemen and Türkiye for their alleged roles in financing Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. This stance follows a recent Houthi statement that they will not stop attacking ships in the [...]
The Chinese embassy in Myanmar urged all Chinese nationals on Thursday to leave northern Myanmar, which borders China’s Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region. The embassy’s statement came as military operations between the ruling junta in Naypyidaw and rebel ethnic armed forces coalition known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance continues in northern Myanmar. Deputy Director [...]
Hong Kong’s government told the UN Human Rights Council in a report on Wednesday that Hong Kong has taken a “major turn from chaos to governance” since the implementation of the National Security Law. The report was published by the Hong Kong government after three weeks of public consultation in June. According to the report, [...]
The Enforcement Directorate of India (ED) stated Tuesday that it has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint incorporating allegations against Robert Vadra. Vadra is the spouse of Priyanka Gandhi, the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress, the largest opposition party in India. The ED press release stated that it has filed a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint [...]
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows disqualified former US President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot on Thursday, citing Section 3 of the US Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. Maine is now the second state to remove Trump from the ballot, joining Colorado, which removed Trump from the ballot under the same constitutional provision [...]
Amnesty International released a report Thursday alleging the targeted use of Pegasus spyware against prominent Indian journalists, rekindling apprehensions about government surveillance and press freedom in the country, following the 2021 Pegasus project disclosures that sent shockwaves through India. The report specifically highlights the cases of Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, and Anand [...]
Through 2023, tensions in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines have escalated, marked by such significant escalations as the removal of a floating barrier by the Philippines near the Scarborough Shoal and the deployment of its Coast Guard amid increased activity by the Chinese Maritime Militia (CMM) near Julian Felipe Reef (or [...]
As we prepare to usher in 2024, the outlook on Alabama’s administration of the death penalty holds many terrible knowns, and an even greater number of grim unknowns. At the top of any capital punishment-watcher’s list: Is Alabama really going to move forward with the first state-sanctioned nitrogen gassing execution in US history? If all goes according [...]
Sri Lankan Prison Commissioner Gamini Dissanayake announced earlier this week that President Ranil Wickremesinghe pardoned over 1,000 prisoners because of the Christmas holiday. The exact number released was 1,004, comprising 989 men and 15 women. A majority of those who were pardoned by the president Sunday were those accused of being unable to pay outstanding [...]
