The US vetoed Palestine’s application for full membership in the UN on Thursday. The veto came as the UN Security Council considered a resolution put forward by Algeria that would have granted Palestine full UN membership. The resolution received 12 votes in favor, more than the required 9, but the US used its veto to [...]
Search Results for: voting rights
Is NOTA Enough? Exploring Options for Amplifying Voter Dissatisfaction in India Elections
With India launching into its 18th general elections on April 19, the imperative that voters turn out to the polls has dominated public discourse. As India is the world’s largest constitutional democracy, each citizen must responsibly and proactively participate in the process that will decide the next five years of the nation’s governance. The incumbent [...]
Voting machine company settles defamation case with far-right news network
Smartmatic, a voting technology company, reached a confidential settlement in a Washington DC court on Tuesday in its defamation lawsuit against the far-right One America News Network (OAN). The lawsuit was related to OAN’s dissemination of false claims about the 2020 US presidential election. Appearing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, [...]
California sues city of Huntington Beach after passing voter identification laws
California officials filed suit against the city of Huntington Beach Monday after it passed Measure A, a voter identification law. The ballot measure would “authorize, but not require, the City to; verify the eligibility of Electors by voter identification…” and “monitor ballot drop boxes located within the City for compliance with all applicable laws.” California’s [...]
Colorado House of Representatives passes ban on sale of assault weapons
Colorado’s House of Representatives passed HB 1292 Sunday by a vote of 35-27. The bill bans the sale and transfer of semiautomatic firearms within the state and will now head to the state senate. The bill prohibits people from manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell or transferring ownership of an “assault weapon.” The bill [...]
The Commission on Reproductive Self-Determination and Reproductive Medicine in Germany on Monday submitted a final report recommending the legalization of abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the country. The German government appointed the Commission in March last year to answer the government’s questions regarding abortion and reproductive medicine. An interdisciplinary body, the [...]
Thousands march in Poland against attempt to liberalize abortion law
Thousands of people protested in Poland on Sunday against an attempt by the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish legislature, to further advance parliamentary works that would amend the strict abortion law currently in power. The parliament voted Friday on four-abortion related issues, in addition to creating an Extraordinary Committee to draft new abortion laws. [...]
US House of Representatives reauthorizes controversial surveillance law
The US House of Representatives passed on Friday a two-year reauthorization of an expiring warrantless surveillance law that had been stalled earlier in the week. The passed bill extends a contentious provision called Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA. Wiretapping for national security investigations involving Americans or individuals within [...]
Germany parliament passes self-determination legislation allowing gender identity modification
Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, passed the Self-Determination Act on Friday, allowing transgender and non-binary citizens to modify the gender marker on their legal documents through self-identification. The Transsexuals Act is the German law that is currently in place to govern the legal requirements for modifying gender identity on legal documentation. Section 8 of the act [...]
Belgium prime minister announces investigation into alleged Russia interference in EU elections
Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander de Croo announced in a press conference on Friday that Belgium has opened an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the upcoming EU parliamentary elections. The Prime Minister specified that the Belgian intelligence received information from Czech authorities that revealed pro-Russian activity in the EU involving several types of espionage networks. [...]