BANGKOK (AP) — Military-ruled Myanmar, already notorious for cracking down on free speech, has enacted a new cybersecurity law with wide-ranging controls on the flow of information, according to a text of the measure published Friday in state-run newspapers. Existing restrictions on freedom of expression under the ruling military have generally involved charges under broadly […]

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A state judge in Montana heard arguments Thursday over policies that block transgender people from changing the sex designation on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses. District Court Judge Mike Menahan did not immediately issue a ruling on the request for a preliminary injunction to block those prohibitions while the case […]

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Legislators from Mexico’s ruling party reelected the head of the National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday despite widespread opposition and her failure to call out the government for abuses. The reelection of Rosario Piedra in a party-line Senate vote appeared to be another example of the ruling Morena party’s attempts to […]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Abortion and reproductive rights have been central to the races for president and governor in North Carolina, a battleground state that has more moderate abortion restrictions than elsewhere across the South. That’s been even truer in the fight for a seat on the state Supreme Court that abortion rights supporters […]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The leading private prison company in the U.S. has spent more than $4.4 million to settle dozens of complaints alleging mistreatment — including at least 22 inmate deaths — at its Tennessee prisons and jails since 2016. More than $1.1 million of those payouts involved Tennessee’s largest prison, the long-scrutinized Trousdale Turner […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union announced on Thursday that it is taking Hungary’s right-wing government to court over laws that could allow the authorities to investigate and prosecute people accused of undermining the country’s sovereignty. The “ sovereignty protection act ″ took effect in December. It created a government authority with the power to […]

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has fired Human Rights Minister Silvio Almeida following reports he engaged in sexual misconduct, the presidential palace said in a statement Friday evening. “The president considers keeping the minister in his position to be unsustainable considering the nature of the accusations,” the statement […]

PHOENIX (AP) — Voters in Arizona and Montana will be able to decide in November whether they want to protect the right to an abortion in their state constitutions. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 200-word summary that abortion advocates used to collect signatures for a ballot measure is valid, clearing the way […]

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that minors don’t need their parents’ permission to get an abortion in the state – agreeing with a lower court ruling that found the parental consent law violates the privacy clause in the state constitution. “We conclude that minors, like adults, have a fundamental right to […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A global deal on the criminal use of computer technology is moving ahead despite worries it will let governments around the world violate human rights by probing electronic communications and bypassing privacy safeguards. Nearly 200 nations approved the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime on Thursday afternoon at a special committee meeting […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli Supreme Court considered a petition Wednesday to shutter a desert military prison where soldiers have been accused of abusing Palestinians, as a new video emerged purporting to show the sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee. Rights groups have been engaged in a legal battle since June to shut down the […]

Ontario is the only province where inmates are regularly locked down due to staff shortages, according to expert evidence in a pair of class-action lawsuits. Former inmates of provincial correctional facilities and immigration detainees who were held there are suing the Ontario and federal governments, alleging that inmates are commonly held in their cells for […]