UK bill ‘limiting’ right to protest sparks outrage – DW News

People have been rallying in cities across the UK to protest against a new bill they say is an attack on the right to demonstrate. The controversial ‘police and crime bill’ would grant police greater powers to crack down on disruptive protests, but critics say it will also make it more difficult to hold peaceful

EU backs international arms embargo after killings in Myanmar

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell accuses Myanmar’s military rulers of carrying out an ‘appalling act of violence’ in Kayah State. The European Union has called for an international arms embargo on Myanmar’s military government and for toughening its own sanctions following last week’s massacre of more than 35 people. The killings took place on Christmas Eve

Middle-class drug users could lose UK passports under Boris Johnson’s plans

Campaigners say government going backwards by targeting ‘lifestyle’ users of class A drugs with tough criminal sanctions Middle-class drug users are to be targeted as part of a 10-year strategy to be announced by Boris Johnson’s government with a heavy focus on war-on-drugs-era punishment. So-called “lifestyle” users of class A drugs face losing their passports or driving

School bullies to face jail under law approved by French MPs

Draft legislation also proposes maximum fine of €150,000 in most serious cases The French parliament has voted to make school bullying a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison, as MPs said society needed a wake-up call on the seriousness of children targeting their peers. The proposed law was supported by Emmanuel

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor vetoes five GOP abortion bills

Gov. Tony Evers is making abortion rights a key component of his 2022 re-election bid. Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed five Republican-authored anti-abortion bills on Friday, two days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could curtail if not end a woman’s right to abortion. Evers, who is making his support

Poland’s lawmakers reject bill seeking to outlaw abortion

Poland’s lawmakers on Thursday rejected a civic legislative proposal that would have outlawed abortion as homicide. The vote to reject the proposal at the initial stage was 361-48 with 12 abstentions, and was greeted with applause. It was overwhelming, also because most among the 228 ruling right-wing party’s lawmakers voted against it. The Law and

9 Democrats urge DOJ to free lawyer who won lawsuit against Chevron

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and seven other House Democrats are urging the Justice Department to release American environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who helped Indigenous communities in Ecuador win a $9.5 billion lawsuit against Chevron. Why it matters: Human rights groups say the charges against Donziger, who is serving a six-month prison term for contempt of

A War Over Weed & Water Is Tearing Apart This California Community – VICE News

A battle has erupted over water and weed in Northern California, and the fight has pitted some long-time residents against a community of refugees from Southeast Asia.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill limiting abortion-inducing pills

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week signed into law a bill that adds more restrictions and increases criminal penalties for the use of abortion-inducing medication, the Dallas Morning News reports. Why it matters: The bill, which comes after Texas implemented one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the U.S., is being decried by abortion-rights groups as a “back-door ban,”

West cries foul as Belarus protest leader Kolesnikova sentenced to 11 years

Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of mass street protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year, was sentenced on Monday to 11 years in prison, leading to an outcry from Western countries. Kolesnikova, 39, had been detained after ripping up her passport to prevent Belarusian security forces from deporting her in a standoff at