Results for “civil rights”

Interception comes after Saudi civil defence agency warned of potential danger near the strategic port of Yanbu.

New Democratic Congress expected to probe Trump Justice Department office's handling of Epstein files and ICE killings.

Brand is under investigation over two more rape allegations and police say others could speak up after guilty verdicts The lead detective in the case against Russell Brand has urged other potential victims of the comedian to come forward after it emerged he is under investigation for two further rape allegations and faces a civil claim in the UK. Det Supt Andy Furphy, the Metropolitan police’s strategic lead in the investigation, described Brand, 51, as “a predator” whose behaviour escalated as his fame grew. Continue reading...

Dhillon is first high-level justice department official to leave after historic Republican defeat in 2026 midterms US midterms 2026 live – latest updates Harmeet Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally who led the justice department’s civil rights division, is reportedly leaving the position. Dhillon is the first high-ranking justice department official to leave after the midterm elections in which Democrats took control of Congress. Democrats are expected to use that power to aggressively investigate executive agencies, including the justice department. Dhillon’s departure was first reported by Bloomberg Law. Continue reading...

New report finds that record label Ador stripped child protections from group’s contracts when they were minors The superstar K-pop group NewJeans signed restrictive record label contracts that waived their right to “sleep, rest and free choice”. A new report from the New York Times found that the contracts were signed when the members of the record-breaking girl group were aged 14 to 17. Continue reading...

Measure in Democratic state says students must submit health documents verifying biological sex for girls’ teams Voters in Washington state have passed a ballot measure banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, a major loss for LGBTQ+ rights in a solidly Democratic state. The measure says students in elementary, middle and high school who want to join girls’ athletics must first submit statements from their healthcare providers verifying their “biological sex”. Opponents have raised alarms the measure may force girls to endure “invasive and extreme” genital exams to participate in school sports. Continue reading...

North Korea's UN mission has lashed out at the European Union over a draft UN resolution. Pyongyang has said the West does not have a monopoly on human rights.

A ballistic missile fired at the Saudi city of Medina, one of Islam's holiest cities, was intercepted Thursday, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels said. The announcement came shortly after the kingdom's civil defence agency warned of potential danger around the strategic port of Yanbu.

Voters in Nevada, Virginia, Missouri and Idaho passed or strengthened protections for women’s reproductive freedom Reproductive rights were on the ballot on Tuesday night as voters weighed in on several abortion -related measures, delivering a largely successful night for reproductive rights advocates encompassed by a historic blue wave . In Nevada , voters approved an amendment enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, permanently protecting access to abortion through the second trimester after a second referendum on the measure. Continue reading...

Rights group says the journalist's arrest over an interview with Azmi Bishara is an attempt to silence Palestinians.

Delegations of Russian and Ukrainian officials, including human rights chiefs from both countries, are set to meet with US First Lady Melania Trump at the White House Thursday ahead of talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the Ukraine war. It comes weeks after Melania Trump helped broker a partial ceasefire that enabled the evacuation of civilians from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky.

Rights groups say a security law was used as a political weapon against the 30-year-old protest leader.

Tati Abu King lost his voting rights after felony convictions.

The former Prince Andrew has been called to testify in a civil fraud trial in London, the first time he would publicly answer questions since his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview. He is not accused of wrongdoing in the case. King Charles III stripped Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of his princely title last year as he sought to shield the rest of the royal family from the continuing fallout from his younger brother’s links to Epstein

Analysis by human rights organisation Global Echo shows 85 of 132 shipments over eight years contained more than US$5m of organic dates grown in settlements Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Millions of dollars of food grown in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has been shipped to Australia labelled as “produce of Israel”, new analysis of trade data has shown. Human rights legal organisation Global Echo has analysed commercial documents and official trade data from the Israeli government and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, showing at least US$5m (A$7.2m) of organic dates grown in illegal settlements across the West Bank have been shipped to Australia over the past eight years. Continue reading...

The former Prince Andrew has been called to testify as a witness in a civil fraud trial, marking what is believed to be the first time in more than 150 years that a member of the royal family has received a witness summons

Jacqueline Kelly, who took part in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs case, will head criminal inquiry into 2024 incident at university The New York attorney general, Letitia James, has tapped a former prosecutor involved in the Sean “Diddy” Combs case to head a criminal investigation into 2024 sexual assault allegations at Cornell University. On Wednesday, James appointed Cornell alum Jacqueline Kelly to serve as outside counsel and lead a “fair and comprehensive criminal investigation”. Kelly, formerly chief of the civil rights unit in the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York, will report directly to James’s office. Continue reading...

Rights activists say UK decision against Palestine Action is a 'misuse of terrorism powers'.

US voters in several states pushed back on President Donald Trump’s redistricting efforts and backed abortion rights in 145 ballot questions during the midterm elections. Some measures put Trump’s priorities to a public test by gauging support for his attempts to redraw congressional districts, limit reproductive rights and strengthen voter identification requirements.

Yothu Yindi’s Treaty, Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning and Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman are among the first songs to be honoured on new list that will grow every year Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of Indigenous Australians who have died Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning, Yothu Yindi’s Treaty and Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman are among the first 10 Australian songs to be inducted into the National Songbook – a new digital archive that celebrates and preserves songs that have shaped Australia’s national cultural identity. Launched on Wednesday night at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in Canberra, the songbook is a joint initiative between NFSA and the music rights organisation Apra Amcos. The first 10 songs were selected by a panel of 11 music experts including broadcasters Richard Kingsmill and Zan Rowe, composer Cornel Wilczek and musician Mo’Ju. Continue reading...

The attack on a drug-trafficking group killed about two dozen people, a rights group said. It comes as the United States is militarizing the fight against “narcoterrorism” in Latin America.

Donald Trump promised Americans a “Golden Age” when he returned to the White House in January 2025. Since then, his administration has slashed government spending through DOGE, ramped up mass deportations, expanded ICE operations and pursued an aggressive crackdown on DEI programmes and transgender rights. But how much has he actually achieved, and at what cost? Vedika Bahl examines Trump's domestic agenda since returning to office.

Demand for individual applicant records as part of purported civil rights review fails on procedural grounds A federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit on Monday filed by the Trump administration seeking individual applicant records from Harvard, finding the government failed to meet procedural requirements before filing the lawsuit against the university. Judge Myoung J Joun did not rule on the merits of the case, rather he granted a request from Harvard to dismiss the case on procedural grounds, finding that the justice department failed to demonstrate it took necessary steps to seek voluntary compliance before moving for judicial enforcement. Continue reading...

Reddit and an Australian digital advocacy group are claiming a law that restricts children younger than 16 from popular platforms infringes on their constitutional rights.

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Jodie Ginsberg, Chief Executive Officer of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The killing of journalists is not simply an assault on those who report the news, explains Ginsberg. It is an attack on the public's right to know, on institutional accountability and, ultimately, on the democratic foundations of society. As the global death toll among media workers continues to rise, a deeper crisis is emerging: the normalization of harassment, intimidation and violence against journalists and the persistent failure to hold perpetrators accountable. “If killers of journalists are allowed to literally get away with murder, that creates the conditions in which we see more and more of those attacks,” warns Ginsberg.

A rights group will argue the world-leading policy robs under-16s of their right to free communication.

Watchdog writes to Nigel Farage’s party to ask what action it is taking to comply with the Equality Act The official equalities watchdog has written to Reform UK to raise concerns after an undercover TV documentary showed councillors and candidates for the party expressing racist and misogynistic views, with one of the party’s MPs complaining about ingrained sexism. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it had written to Nigel Farage’s party in the wake of revelations in ITV’s Undercover: A Year in Reform, which was broadcast in October. Continue reading...

Zambian authorities forcibly disappeared, arbitrarily detained, beat and threatened opposition members and supporters, lawyers, journalists and government critics in the days before and after August’s general election, Human Rights Watch said

Prospect to hold workplace sessions and recruit members under agreement with tech company Trade unions are expected to make further inroads into big tech companies in the UK after new rights for unions to access workplaces came into force , with Google UK signing an agreement on Monday. The Prospect union has reached an agreement with Google to begin organising among about 7,000 workers across its UK operations, including YouTube but excluding DeepMind. Continue reading...

Following a UN staffer's death, rights experts expose systematic abuses and demand international accountability in Yemen

The conflict that tore through New England 350 years ago was the bloodiest per capita in colonial or US history Massachusetts is proud of its ties to the American Revolution. From Paul Revere’s Ride to the siege of Boston, the past year-plus has been devoted to celebrating 250 years of US independence. Yet during this time, the state, and New England in general, has given far less attention to an older, more complex remembrance: The 350th anniversary of King Philip’s war. King Philip, or Metacom, was an Indigenous leader from the Pokanoket people. Alarmed by English colonists’ infringement of Indigenous rights, from seizing land to proselytizing, Metacom led an alliance of New England tribes – including the Pokanoket, Nipmuc and Narragansett – in an existential struggle for control of the region. He gave his name to the conflict, but paid with his life – as did many others, soldiers and civilians alike. With an estimated 800 dead on the colonial side, and three to five thousand Indigenous slain, the war claimed more deaths per capita than any other in colonial American or US history. Continue reading...

France is bracing for a third consecutive weekend of protests, with around 70,000 security personnel deployed to prevent a repeat of the violence seen on October 17. Shops have boarded up their premises as authorities warn of further clashes, with Halloween celebrations adding to security concerns over masked demonstrators. The protests, involving Yellow Vest activists, trade unions and students, initially focused on the rising cost of living, inequality and poor school conditions, but have since expanded to include demands for greater civil liberties and the right to protest. The demonstrations come six months ahead of presidential elections, amid a tense political climate and growing support for the far right. Authorities have restricted marches in several cities, while Paris police have only authorised a demonstration on the capital's outskirts. Curfews have also been imposed in parts of Paris as officials seek to prevent further unrest.

France is preparing for a third weekend of protests, with 70,000 security personnel deployed to prevent a repeat of the violence seen on October 17. Shops have boarded up their premises as authorities warn of further clashes, with Halloween adding to concerns over masked demonstrators. The protests, initially driven by anger over the cost of living and poor school conditions, have broadened to include demands for greater civil liberties and the right to protest. With presidential elections six months away, authorities have tightened security and restricted demonstrations in several cities.

Americans vote on November 3 in midterm elections that could see Republicans lose control of Congress, endangering US President Donald Trump's legislative agenda. Under the US Constitution, elections are organized by the respective states – but that has not halted US President Donald Trump from trying to wield his influence ahead of the vote.

Mary Peltola denies knowledge as party accused of recruiting spoiler candidate with same name as sitting Republican Alaska Senate race: what to know about Democrats’ alleged ballot-stacking effort The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday the existence of a criminal and a civil investigation into an alleged scheme by Democrats to confuse voters by recruiting a spoiler candidate on the ballot for US Senate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent, senator Dan Sullivan. Speaking at a news conference in Anchorage on Friday, US attorney Michael Heyman cited reporting by the New York Times which suggested that the Senate campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola and national Democrats had, in his words, “orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J Sullivan as a sham candidate”. Continue reading...

Colombia's president plans to slash spending on a transitional justice court. But war crimes victims fear the cost.

Chris Murphy said waiving a human rights condition on aid paved the way for arrests of journalists.

Scraping copyrighted material from internet could ‘potentially’ amount to acquisition of property by government, Anne Twomey says Get our daily political email , free app or daily news podcast Altering copyright law to allow AI companies to scrape music, books and journalism could trigger a constitutional breach, Coalition senators and the recording industry have warned, as they raise new fears it could open Australia to massive legal action and compensation claims from rights holders worldwide. The attorney general’s department admitted it was “extremely alive” to the issue, and Australia’s leading constitutional expert, Anne Twomey, agreed there was “potentially” a concern – depending how legislation was drafted – that granting AI companies permission to scrape copyrighted material from the internet could amount to an acquisition of property by the government. Continue reading...

Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha were charged over an incident in 2024, when England's cricket team was touring Pakistan.

Critics cite Lana Nusseibeh’s denial of accusations the UAE is fuelling Sudan war by supporting paramilitary RSF Members of the Sudanese diaspora and international human rights monitors have denounced the candidature of an Emirati diplomat for the top job at the UN, citing her denial of accusations that the United Arab Emirates is fuelling the war in Sudan by supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The UAE nominated Lana Nusseibeh last week to replace the UN secretary general, António Guterres, as he finishes his second five-year term ⁠this year, upending a race that had become gridlocked. Continue reading...

Senegal is hosting Africa's first Youth Olympics, with 2,700 young athletes competing in Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly. The Games bring pride and hope, but also questions over cost, rights and legacy.

The anger over the voting lists has melded with grievances from young Indians struggling to find work.

The Belarusian musician and civil rights activist Maria Kalesnikava held the keynote speech on the importance of art at the 2026 Beethovenfest in Bonn. She also visited DW.