Michigan governor Rick Snyder on Thursday signed into law a bill that allows private adoption agencies to deny placements they object to for religious reasons, including placements with same-sex couples. Snyder said the law reflects existing practices...

Humans Rights Watch (HRW) , along with Amnesty International, Civil Society Organizations Reference Group and National Civil Society Congress called on authorities in Kenya on Thursday to stop the harassment and intimidation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the...

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein and a spokesperson for the EU on Thursday demanded that the government of Pakistan reinstate its death penalty moratorium. The EU also called on the Pakistani government...

Assistant Secretary-General for UN peacekeeping operations Edmund Mulet said Tuesday that the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan is continuing to harm civilians. Presenting the Report of the Secretary-General on the African Union-United...

The European Commission said Thursday that they have opened a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon's e-books business. The investigation will focus on particular clauses in Amazon's contracts requiring publishers to inform Amazon about more favorable or...

China's ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang was found guilty Thursday of bribery, abuse of power and intentionally disclosing national secrets was sentenced to life imprisonment. He has also been deprived of his political rights for life and has had his...

The Constitutional Court of Belgium on Thursday ruled that a law requiring Internet service providers and telecommunications operators to retain customer metadata for possible future police investigations violates fundamental privacy rights and is...

The North Carolina House of Representatives on Thursday passed a law that would allow some court officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on their religious beliefs, overriding a veto by Governor...

UN Special Rapporteur Miklós Haraszti on Thursday warned that Belarus continues to sentence and imprison political opponents of the government. Haraszti cited examples from April and May where existing prisoners we given extended sentences or placed...

The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled Thursday that a law restricting the medical use of marijuana to smoking the dried plant was unconstitutional. Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act , smoking marijuana for medical purposes...