Recently, Spain’s Parliament passed a new bill that seeks to make consent the determining factor in sexual assault cases, thus freeing victims from the burden of proving that they were intimidated, subjected to violence or that they physically resisted to show that they suffered a sexual assault. As per the Guarantee of Sexual Freedom law, [...]
Search Results for: 2014-06-13
Saudi Arabia releases blogger Raif Badawi after ten years in prison
The Saudi Arabian government has released blogger and human rights activist Raif Badawi on Friday after a ten-year prison sentence, his wife Ensaf Haider confirmed. Badawi founded an online forum, “Free Saudi Liberals,” that encouraged discussions about secularism and liberal religious practices. His writings were also critical of the Islamic clergy. He was arrested in [...]
Will Washington Ever Get Around to Regulating Artificial Intelligence?
On November 4, 2021, US Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced the introduction of S.3175 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): Advancing American Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2021 to Congress. Although the stated goal of S. 3175 is to ensure private companies have access to accurate data so they can better meet Department of Defense [...]
After Afghanistan: Taliban Power, Palestinian Terrorism and Islamist Sacrifice
“History is an illustrious war against death.” – José Ortega y Gasset, Man and Crisis (1958) Afghanistan and “Palestine”: Newly Emerging Linkages At first glance, there are no obvious connections between the Taliban victory over the United States in Afghanistan and Palestinian terrorism against Israel. Upon closer inspection, however, the recent Taliban triumph reflects more [...]
Israel versus Hamas: Proportionality, Perfidy and the Law of War
“It must not be forgotten that it is perhaps more dangerous for a nation to allow itself to be conquered intellectually than by arms.” -Guillaume Apollinaire, The New Spirit and the Poets (1917) Whenever Israel finds itself in the midst of major conflict with Hamas, each side seeks to defend itself in military and legal [...]
Explainer: Land Rights Dispute Leads to Clashes in East Jerusalem
This article was co-authored by Daniel Klapper (University of Pittsburgh School of Law, US) and Lubaina Baloch (University of Calgary School of Law, CA) What started as a local conflict in East Jerusalem in early May has rapidly emerged as a microcosm of the enduring land rights disputes between Israel and Palestine. A protest over [...]
Polygamy, Peyote, and Foster Care: America’s Fraught Relationship With Religious Liberty
Any day now, the Supreme Court is set to release its opinion on Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a case argued in October 2020. The central conflict in the case deals with a Catholic foster care organization that contracts with the city to screen potential foster parents for placement. Following the Court’s ruling in Bostock, [...]
UN rights expert: Colombia must dismantle criminal networks, corruption in Buenaventura
A UN human rights expert called on Colombia Friday to dismantle criminal networks and corruption in Buenaventura, where civilians have been greatly impacted by fighting between Colombian armed groups. Buenaventura has a population of 432,000. Over the past decade, human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have reported the forced displacement of thousands of [...]
Controlling Nuclear Risks: A Basic Obligation of U.S, Law and Policy
Abstract: In principle, especially during a rare historical moment of extra-terrestrial exploration and immunological control, our species ought to render itself capable of managing nuclear threats. Prima facie, after all, the difficulties of transporting complex instrumentation to Mars and simultaneously fashioning effective vaccines against deadly pathogens should exceed even the most complex challenges of international peace. Nonetheless, [...]
What If Trump's Electoral Defeat Coincides with a Nuclear Crisis?
“The masses have followed the magicians again and again…Socrates and Plato were the first to take up the struggle against them in clear awareness of what was at stake.” – Karl Jaspers, Reason and Anti-Reason in our Time (1952) On absolutely all matters of existential survival, individual or collective, candor is indispensable. In connection with [...]