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 [...]

The Arizona House of Representatives erupted into chants of “shame” on Wednesday after Republican members voted to adjourn instead of discussing a bill that would repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban. The state’s Supreme Court ruled this week that the Civil War-era law could go into effect, setting off a heated debate in the southwestern [...]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an order on Thursday imposing additional emergency provisional measures Israel must follow in South Africa’s genocide case against the country. The order comes after South Africa requested additional measures in light of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a request that Israel asked the court to deny. The [...]

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Monday demanding an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In addition to calling for a ceasefire, the resolution demands the “immediate and unconditional” release of hostages and a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza. It emphasizes that all parties must follow [...]

The Supreme Court of Israel stopped a government plan to send a group of Palestinian patients to Gaza. The group, mostly cancer patients, will now be able to stay in East Jerusalem and Tel Aviv because of the Wednesday decision. Physicians for Human Rights—Israel (PHRI), a human rights advocacy group, filed a request with the [...]

The American Library Association (ALA) announced on Thursday that censorship demands and book ban attempts in public libraries and schools hit a record high in 2023. The ALA documented 1,247 demands to ban 4,240 different books. This is a 65 percent increase from 2022, when 2,571 books faced censorship demands. In 17 states, book ban [...]

A Texas federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday suspending enforcement of a Texas state law that criminalized illegal entry to the US from abroad. The law, SB4, criminalized a number of immigration offenses under state law and empowered state law enforcement to make arrests and hold people in detention. SB4 will now be [...]

The Alabama Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that puts a politically-appointed board in charge of the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH), as well as a bill that makes it easier for municipalities to fire members of a local library’s board of directors. The bills are widely seen as a response to an ADAH [...]

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a press conference that 31 of the hostages held by Hamas were dead, more than one fifth of the remaining 136 people who are still held captive in Gaza. The press conference followed a report in the New York Times that detailed a confidential [...]

The US District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that accuses President Joe Biden of being complicit in genocide in Gaza because of the president’s support for Israel’s military operation. The decision, written by Judge Jeffrey S. White, hinged on jurisdictional questions and did not speak to the substantive claims [...]