A White House spokesperson on Tuesday expressed President Barack Obama’s support for legislationy that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity through an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The legislation had been under consideration for several weeks, and the White House had not been prepared to endorse it [...]
UN rights experts stated Wednesday that authorities in Iran should cease arresting, prosecuting and harassing journalists and online activists, and should provide a safe space for freedom of expression. UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Ahmen Shaheed made the statements to the press as Iran is preparing for parliamentary elections next year and the Iran intelligence [...]
A group of 23 House Republicans told the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “lacks the authority it claims … and improperly bypassed the democratic process” in passing net neutrality regulations. In an amicus curiae brief urging the appeals court to vacate the FCC’s [...]
The US Senate on Tuesday approved the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA ), which is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama despite further delaying the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison. Section 1031 of the NDAA prohibits the use of funds for the “transfer or release of individuals [...]
Federal prosecutors in New York announced Tuesday that they are expanding criminal charges against the three individuals responsible for orchestrating a massive computer hack against financial institutions, brokerage firms and financial news publishers. Gery Shalon, Joshua Aaron and Ziv Orenstein allegedly hacked JP Morgan Chase and 11 other companies including Dow Jones. They reportedly stole [...]
Lawmakers in the Maldives voted Tuesday to remove prosecutor general Muhtaz Muhzin following his refusal to press corruption charges against the recently ousted vice president . Out of the 85-member parliament, 57 lawmakers approved a no-confidence motion against the prosecutor general. Muhtaz says that he has not been made aware of the content of the [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two cases. In Tyson v. Bouaphakeo the court heard arguments on whether differences among plaintiff members can be ignored for the purposes of a class action lawsuit when damages will be calculated that presume all class members are identical. The second question posed to the court [...]
The EU on Tuesday released a report criticizing Turkey for human rights and governmental issues which they save have not been addressed through new reforms. The report discusses how issues such as the refugee crisis and oppression of journalists could be cured by adopting reforms that mirror the standards set by surrounding EU nations. The [...]
A federal judge on Monday ruled against part of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program that collects domestic phone records in bulk. Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said that the program was most likely unconstitutional and shut down the program just weeks before the NSA was [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday rejected claims from French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala that his rights to speak freely were denied when he was convicted of and fined for hate crimes due to a 2008 performance that ended with comments and actions directed towards the Jewish community. The court determined “that [...]
