The NRA is one of the US’ most influential lobby groups, funding pro-gun Republican lawmakers and opposing Democrat-driven moves toward gun control, even in the wake of mass shootings. As influential as the NRA is, all’s not well with the organization’s finances, and the group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy …
Read More »Opposition & human rights groups brand bloody Rio favela raid a ‘massacre’, demand probe into possible extrajudicial killings
Thursday’s raid on the Jacarezinho community in northern Rio left 25 dead, including a drug squad officer who was shot in the head. The slums, also known as favelas, are notorious for rampant crime and violence. The raid was the deadliest police operation in a Rio favela since 2005. Although police …
Read More »Quibbling over diplomatic rights for the EU and sending the navy to defend Jersey in fishing row is knee-jerk Britain at its worst
While French gunboats and British warships circle one another off the coast of Jersey as protesting fishermen bait the opposing side over disputed fishing rights, at least we can all rest easy over one niggling little problem that has been resolved amicably. The European Union ambassador to the United Kingdom, …
Read More »Russia ready to back waiving intellectual property rights for Covid vaccines, as Putin says now ‘not the time to maximize profits’
The proposals to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines “don’t contradict” the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which allow such an option during emergencies, Putin said on Thursday. The Russian president instructed Tatyana Golikova, the deputy prime minister responsible for social policy, to explore patent waivers. “Of …
Read More »Biden admin backs proposal to lift intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, Pfizer & Moderna stocks slip
“These extraordinary times and circumstances call for extraordinary measures,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai tweeted on Wednesday. “The US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic and we’ll actively participate in @WTO negotiations to make that happen.” There have been calls for months …
Read More »Human Rights Watch hurts ‘Israel’s right to exist’ with report accusing it of crime of apartheid, minister claims
“The purpose of this spurious report is in no way related to human rights, but to an ongoing attempt by HRW to undermine the State of Israel’s right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people,” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Michael Biton said. The Israeli Foreign Minister branded …
Read More »Old school gay rights activists under fire from furious transgender activists for daring to set up a charity that excludes them
Obsessed not so much with their side of the argument as with who might agree with it and how, British gender warriors have launched into all-out war against a gay group that looked to validate the most unforgivable of crimes – they sought and won recognition as a charity, but …
Read More »On human rights, US and Japan have debts to China and the people of the world, says Beijing
Speaking on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin denounced the joint statement made by Washington and Tokyo, which claimed China’s actions are negatively impacting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. Wang claimed that the US and Japan weren’t at liberty to make such statements concerning Chinese internal policy and …
Read More »Don’t want a vaccine? Tough luck, says the European Court of Human Rights
In a decision bound to generate controversy, the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled against several Czech families who had refused to give their children compulsory vaccinations. The parents had appealed against fines they had received, as well as the children’s exclusion from preschool. The ruling was not …
Read More »The European Court of Human Rights has just opened the door for mandatory Covid-19 vaccines across the continent
The Covid-19 pandemic has coughed up many issues about what our governments and public health authorities can do, none more controversial or divisive than those surrounding the mass compulsory vaccination of entire populations. And, today, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) inadvertently weighed in on this hotly contested topic …
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