The UN Security Council said in a statement Wednesday that they are in support of reviewing and adjusting priorities in its Darfur Peacekeeping Operation, underlining the need for sustainable solutions for more than 2.7 million people displaced within the region. The 15-member organ, headed by Kairat Umarov (of Kazakhstan), Council President for January, called for [...]
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati on Wednesday refused to produce legislative district data to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court . On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered the parties in League of Women Voters v. Pennsylvania to produce “ESRI shape files that contain the current boundaries of all Pennsylvania municipalities and precincts” to facilitate [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday that numerous armed groups, some linked to the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), are preventing thousands of internally displaced individuals from returning home. The LNA-affiliated groups are reportedly preventing 3,700 families from entering the city. Those affected claim that these pro-LNA forces have warned them not to enter the [...]
An Istanbul court on Thursday ordered the rearrest of Taner Kılıç, the chairman of the Turkish Chapter of Amnesty International , hours after he was released . Kılıç’s rearrest follows an Istanbul trial court’s decision on Wednesday to conditionally release him from pre-trial detention. Upon the prosecutor’s appeal of the decision, a second unidentified tribunal [...]
The US Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday extended Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for certain Syrian immigrants. The TPS status is extended for 18 months and affects 7,000 Syrians in the US who benefit from that designation. Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen continued TPS status for Syria based on the continuing armed conflict and other extraordinary conditions [...]
The US Court Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a lower court’s ruling that temperatures in Louisiana’s death-row prison cells be kept below 88 degrees Fahrenheit. In an opinion by the Chief Judge, the court explained that the district court overstepped its authority by setting a maximum temperature for the cells. This is the second [...]
Poland’s Senate approved a legislation Thursday criminalizing speeches against the national government that suggest the country was responsible for the Holocaust. The legislation, titled “Act on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation,” effectively imposes a three-year prison sentence for statements that “publicly and against the [...]
The Washington Senate on Wednesday voted 26-22 to pass SB 6212 , which would require insurance providers that cover maternity care to also cover elective abortions and contraception. The bill, the Reproductive Parity Act (RPA), which was introduced by Democratic Senator Steve Hobbs , will provide coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices as [...]
Two British lawyers released a report on Wednesday detailing Saudi Arabia’s recent human rights violations and demanding the country’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) be suspended for violating international law. Authors Rodney Dixon QC and Lord Kenneth Donald John Macdonald allege that more than 60 individuals were arbitrarily arrested and detained in [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday adopted a “probable cause” test in assessing losses resultant of fraud under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 . Defendants First Solar, Inc., were accused of committing several fraudulent acts, which caused the plaintiffs who purchased First Solar stock to suffer great economic loss. [...]
