GENEVA, Jan 10 (Reuters) – The U.N. human rights chief said that the death penalty was being weaponised by Iran’s government to strike fear into the population and stamp out dissent, saying the executions amounted to “state sanctioned killing.” “The weaponization of criminal procedures to punish people for exercising their basic rights – such as those participating in or organizing demonstrations –[Read More…]

DUBLIN, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Ireland’s data privacy regulator fined Meta META.O 390 million euros ($414 million) on Wednesday for breaches at its Facebook and Instagram services and said both must reassess the legal basis on how they run advertising based on personal data in the European Union. The order on how both social media companies run advertising[Read More…]

Dec 9 (Reuters) – Here is a look at migrant workers’ rights issues in Qatar, which is hosting the 2022 World Cup from Nov. 20-Dec. 18: WHAT IS QATAR’S RECORD ON MIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS? * Qatar, where foreigners make up the majority of the 2.9 million population, has faced intense[Read More…]

KYIV, Nov 24 (Reuters) – More than 15,000 people have gone missing during the war in Ukraine, an official at the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said on Thursday. The Hague-based organization, created in the wake of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, opened an office in Kyiv in[Read More…]

Nov 14 (Reuters) – Brazil’s democracy prevailed under attacks by far-right social media militias that sought to discredit the voting system during elections in October, the head of the national electoral authority said on Monday. Allegations that electronic voting machines were vulnerable to fraud were aimed at changing the political[Read More…]

KYIV, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Russia launched dozens of “kamikaze” drones on Ukraine on Monday, hitting energy infrastructure and killing five people in the capital of Kyiv. Ukrainians have nicknamed them “mopeds” for the loud whirring noise their engines make as they fly overhead. Ukraine says they are Iranian-made Shahed-136[Read More…]

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Grief-stricken relatives sobbed and clutched toys at a children’s daycare center on Friday, a day after a former policeman killed 34 people, most of them young children, in a knife and gun rampage there that has horrified Thailand. Government buildings flew flags at[Read More…]

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s government filed a lawsuit against five Arizona gun dealers on Monday accusing them of participating in illicit weapons trafficking, a Mexican official told Reuters, in a push to hold retailers responsible for the deadly trade. Mexican leaders have for years blasted illegal arms smuggling from the[Read More…]

NEW DELHI, Sept 29 (Reuters) – India’s top court on Thursday upheld the right of a woman to an abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy regardless of marital status, a decision widely hailed by women’s rights activists. The right to abortion has proved contentious globally after the U.S. Supreme[Read More…]

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin is preparing to formally annex around 15% of Ukrainian territory after referendums on joining Russia in areas controlled by Russian forces or Russian-backed separatists. CAN THE WEST STOP PUTIN? Neither the West nor Ukraine can stop Putin claiming the regions, though the[Read More…]