Human Rights

A controversial new rule in Russia aims to ban some groups from driving based on their sexuality. It lists transgender people, exhibitionists, voyeurs, fetishists and many others as not allowed to have a driver's license. Human rights groups in the country and beyond are up in arms over the act.

Human rights and motor racing don't typically belong in the same sentence, but a damning report issued by Amnesty International regarding political dissent in the United Arab Emirates was just released ahead of the upcoming Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 80-page report entitled There is No Freedom Here: Silencing Dissent in the UAE alleges that the UAE has embarked on a concerted campaign to silence dissidents within its borders since the rise of the Arab Spring of 2011 that saw governments overthrow

Ford and Daimler have scored a major victory in a long-running lawsuit filed in US federal court by unnamed South African nationals. The suit alleges that both manufacturers and their subsidiaries sold their vehicles to the South African military, despite knowing that they'd be involved in violently putting down anti-apartheid protesters.

The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia is a tenuous one. For better or worse, it usually involves the American government siding with the Saudi royal family – arguably at the expense of the people over which the latter rule. But this time, the roles have changed, with U.S. lawmakers taking up a cause championed by social activists on the street (quite literally) against the nation's historically conservative government and social mores.

It appears as if Max Mosley has gotten whipped once again. But this time, it wasn't in an alleged S&M dungeon with a gaggle of hookers dressed up as Nazi officers, it was in no less distinguished a forum than the European Court of Human Rights.

Brazil is one of the poster children for the alternative fuel movement and the country has more than once stated its desire to be the major supplier of sugarcane-based ethanol.