The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed alarm Monday about a request from South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA) to subject South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) editor-in-chief, Moshoeshoe Monare, to additional security screening, including a polygraph test. The situation unfolded following a leaked audio recording of President Cyril Ramaphosa expressing dissatisfaction with media coverage of [...]
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday that Namibia has eliminated vertical mother-to-child transmission of viral HIV and Hepatitis B, the first country in Africa and the only high-burden country worldwide to do so. WHO presented the country with the “silver-tier” status for its work on controlling and eliminating Hepatitis B and the “bronze tier” [...]
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) released a 67-page report Tuesday detailing its findings from monitoring the 2022 US midterm election and showcasing strategies to combat racial inequality during upcoming election cycles. The report, entitled Democracy Defended, specifically focused on voter experiences in seven of the nation’s southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, [...]
TikTok and its China-headquartered parent company ByteDance sued US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday over a recently signed law forcing ByteDance to sell its popular social media app under threat of a ban. The plaintiffs claim the law violates the companies’ First Amendment free speech rights while US officials claim it is necessary for [...]
The Internal Security Agency of Poland announced Monday that it initiated an investigation into former judge Szmydt Tomasz, who fled to Belarus and claimed asylum earlier that day. The investigation is regarding the former judge’s access to classified information. Tomasz communicated his resignation from a Warsaw Provincial Administrative Court in a press conference run by [...]
UN independent human rights experts warned Monday that violations of women and girls’ rights in Haiti are “continuing with impunity.” They said in a statement that increasing levels of violence, along with corruption and poor governance, are undermining the rule of law in Haiti, resulting in a weakening of the justice system. According to the [...]
President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva signed Monday a request for the country’s Congress to recognize a state of public calamity in Rio Grande do Sul, a region in the south of Brazil, until December 31, 2024, amid massive floods that have caused considerable damage. The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of [...]
Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that a gag order imposed against him ahead of his ongoing New York hush money trial was unconstitutional. The comments came a day after the former president was held in criminal contempt for the second time in a week and threatened with incarceration. In the weeks leading up to Trump’s criminal trial for [...]
The 2024 US presidential election will be historic on several fronts. It will be the first rematch between presidential candidates since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower faced down Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1956. At 81 and 77 respectively, incumbent candidate Joe Biden and his adversary Donald Trump are the oldest major party frontrunners in the history [...]
The European Union Commission issued a statement Monday announcing they will end six years of rule of law proceedings brought against Poland. President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen congratulated the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, in what she called a culmination of Poland’s diligent work and unwavering commitment to reform. The Commission initiated [...]
