Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Kyrgyzstan to drop unsubstantiated, politically motivated charges against independent journalists. Journalists from several independent local media outlets, including YouTube-based Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese, face up to six years in prison, with a final verdict of the Lenin District Court of Bishkek expected to be delivered on October 3. [...]

The Thai Royal Gazette announced on Tuesday that Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has endorsed the Marriage Equality Bill, recognizing same-sex marriage. The bill revises several sections of the Civil and Commercial Code. Amendments to the law employ gender-neutral language and grant LGBTQ+ couples marriage, child adoption, inheritance and healthcare consent rights. The law will enter [...]

United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, condemned the violence perpetrated by former Russian convicts against women and children upon their return from Ukraine during a press conference on Monday. The Special Rapporteur reported that “an estimated 170,000 convicted, violent criminals” who were recruited to fight [...]

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa Azin on Monday announced a decision to introduce a bill amending Article 5 of the constitution, to permit the establishment of foreign military bases in the country. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the president announced that a “Partial Reform Project to the Constitution” would be presented before the National [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued two rulings on Tuesday, imposing a €2.4 billion fine on Google for abuse of its dominant market position and ordering Apple to repay Ireland €13 billion in tax. The court upheld the European General Court’s judgment and the European Commission’s decision to impose the fine against Google in [...]

The Cluster Munitions Coalition released its annual report on Monday detailing the use and transfer of these munitions alongside the policies and practices of countries regarding their use, and their implications on the international treaty banning cluster munitions. The 2024 report’s primary focus is on developments and challenges concerning the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the [...]

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) imposed a 30.5 million euro fine on US company Clearview AI on Wednesday for building an “illegal database” containing over 30 billion images of people. The Dutch DPA issued the fine following an investigation into Clearview AI’s processing of personal data. It found the company violated the European [...]

A Venezuelan court issued an arrest warrant for former presidential candidate Edmundo González on Monday following a criminal investigation into the disputed presidential election. The Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the arrest warrant following González’s refusal to answer questions surrounding the publication of election results. González is accused of several crimes including usurpation of functions, forgery [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called Tuesday for the Taliban’s recently enacted “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law in Afghanistan to be repealed. A spokesperson for Türk, Ravina Shamdasani, condemned the new law as “utterly intolerable,” demanding, “e call on the de facto authorities to immediately repeal this legislation, which [...]

Press freedom organizations and human rights groups collectively called on the EU in a letter on Monday to take action against Israeli authorities’ media freedom violations. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), alongside 59 other signatories, including Human Rights Watch, petitioned European leaders to “take action against the Israeli authorities’ unprecedented killing of journalists and [...]