Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communications urged legislators to regulate the social media platform TikTok rather than ban it outright, the ministry told Reuters on Thursday. According to the ministry, the state should require TikTok to screen content to guarantee it complies with Kenyan laws. The ministry also said the social media company should be required to submit quarterly reports on which materials it has removed and forward them to the government. This proposal follows Parliament’s inquiry into a petition seeking to ban TikTok. The petition was based on allegations by the Minist ..read more

Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, said Friday that violence against women is an “epidemic” in the country as thousands of people gathered in cities across Australia demanding tougher legislation on gender-based violence. In his announcement on X (formerly Twitter), Albanese said that “governments need to do better and as a society we need to do better.” He pledged to join the rallies himself. The action comes following a mass-stabbing incident in Sydney earlier this month that police said appeared to target women. Statistics show that a woman has been killed around every four days ..read more

Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency response group in Palestine, called on the United Nations and the international community to conduct an independent investigation of mass graves at Gaza’s Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals in a press conference on Thursday. The officials also called for a halt to the fighting and for a surge in humanitarian assistance. The officials said they discovered nearly 400 bodies at mass graves at the Nasser and al-Shifa hospital complexes, two of the largest hospitals in Gaza and where Israel conducted military operations earlier this year. More than ..read more

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued election code violation notices Thursday to India’s two largest political parties, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC). The notices are issued for violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the star campaigners of both parties, including the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, from the BJP and the senior leader of INC, Rahul Gandhi. The MCC is a set of guidelines issued by the ECI to regulate the conduct of political parties and their candidates in the run-up to ..read more

Lebanon’s Council of Ministers has taken steps towards accepting International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction within their territory Friday by instructing their Foreign Affairs Ministry to submit a declaration to the ICC, allowing the court to investigate and prosecute crimes occurring within Lebanese territory since October 7, 2023. While Lebanon is still not a ratifying member of the ICC Rome Statute, the filing of the declaration grants the court the authority to investigate serious crimes committed in Lebanon in the last six months. Since October 7, Lebanon has accused Israel of repeate ..read more

Colombian Attorney General Luz Camargo temporarily suspended arrest warrants for nine members of the illegal armed group Second Marquetalia Thursday in an effort to aid ongoing peace talks. Camargo has this power under Resolution 65 of 2024, which emphasizes: According to Article 2.1.6.3. of Decree number 1081 of 2015 the Attorney General of the Nation, acting as the competent authority, shall immediately suspend arrest warrants issued or to be issued against representative members of illegal armed organizations engaged in dialogues, negotiations, or peace agreements, for the strict term requ ..read more

The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General made a call to Haitian authorities to “expedite the full implementation of the transitional governance arrangements” following the official installation of a Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) and the official resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Thursday. The establishment of the TPC comes as a response to rampant gang violence in the Caribbean island and a worsening humanitarian crisis, which is classed as an emergency by the UN. The TPC’s role is to choose the next Haitian prime minister and ministerial cabinet following Henry’s for ..read more

The Tennessee House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday that criminalizes adults who knowingly take minors away from Tennessee to help them receive gender-affirming medical procedures without the consent of their parents. The companion bill was introduced to the Tennessee House of Representatives on January 29, 2024 as HB 2310 by Representative Bryan Richey and to the Tennessee Senate on January 31. Senator Janice Bowling introduced SB 2782 in the Senate. The bill originally allowed parents to sue any adult who “knowingly remove a minor from [Tennessee] without the consent of a pare ..read more

The Bundestag, Germany’s federal Parliament, passed on Friday the second amendment of the Federal Climate Protection Act. The amendment passed a day after the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a lawmaker’s objection to the amended bill. The amendments aim to reduce the pressure against individual sectors by removing some greenhouse gas emissions targets. In the Bundestag on Friday, Germany’s coalition government agreed to pass the amendments. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green Party voted to approve the bill, while the opposing party Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU ..read more

The India Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a case on Thursday in response to allegations of land grabs and sexual assaults involving five influential individuals located in Sandeshkhali, West Bengal, according to an official’s statement to the Press Trust of India (PTI). This follows a court-monitored investigation of the situation, which was previously ordered by the Calcutta High Court on April 10. The case centers around a contentious land dispute, with reports indicating that women from the victim’s family endured sexual assault allegedly perpetrated by prominent figures in t ..read more