Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported June 8 that the US entered into bilateral agreements with at least seven African countries to provide healthcare resources in exchange for access to surveillance data and pathogen specimens.

The Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with several African governments were signed in 2025 as part of the so-called “America First” Global Health Strategy.

The agreements raise serious concerns about access to people’s private health care data, HRW said.

“The agreements show the US intends to condition vital health assistance for millions of people on acquiescence to troubling conditions,” said Julia Bleckner, senior health researcher at HRW. “After the sudden and devastating pullback from US assistance in 2025, governments are now being pressured to accept agreements with contingencies that jeopardize human rights.”

The US government has not publicly disclosed details of the 31 agreements reportedly signed with African governments. The agreements with Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda were briefly posted to the US State Department’s Freedom of Information Act Library on March 13, under the Case-Zablocki Act, which requires timely public disclosure of international agreements. They were removed days later, after the New York Times reported that the US had linked a $1 billion health package to access to Zambia’s minerals, with a leaked State Department memo stating that the US would “only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale.” (Jurist)

Internet access is slowly being restored in Iran. But Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accuses Iran of interfering with a short-wave radio frequency used to broadcast independent Farsi-language news into the country. RSF said interference recently appeared on the 15,500 kHz frequency used by a station it launched with Radio For Peace International to provide independent news coverage to Iranian audiences. The broadcasts were created to bypass internet restrictions and state media controls by transmitting news from independent Persian-language outlets, including IranWire. (Jurist)

The US Department of Justice announced June 8 that it will move to revoke citizenship from 17 naturalized citizens.

Denaturalization cases are rare; from 1990 through 2017 there were only 305 denaturalization cases, or an average 11 per year. In that same time period, approximately 644,000 immigrants became US citizens each year.

Under federal law, the government may ask a court to strip the citizenship of people who obtained their citizenship fraudulently or committed a crime. Qualifying fraudulent instances to induce denaturalization include: entering into a sham marriage or withholding information about their past that would have made them ineligible. However, naturalized citizens are still entitled to due process during a denaturalization proceeding. The government must present evidence to a federal judge through a civil or criminal trial, making the process challenging and time-consuming for the judicial system.

According to a recent New York Times article, the DoJ is preparing to expand efforts to strip citizenship from naturalized American citizens, identifying 384 people whose citizenship it may seek to revoke. This press release comes exactly a month after the administration announced its plan to denaturalize a dozen individuals. (Jurist)

Bolivia’s legislature has passed a law granting embattled President Rodrigo Paz the authority to use military troops to clear roadblocks set up by protesters, as the country enters its fifth week of nationwide anti-government demonstrations. The law was passed in Bolivia’s Chamber of Deputies on Sunday, following an overnight debate, and was signedinto law by Paz on June 8, local authorities reported.

The new Law Regulating States of Exception had already been passed by the Senate. The law gives the president a framework to declare an emergency and deploy the armed forces in operations intended to re-open highways and restore the movement of food, fuel and medical supplies.

Under the law, Paz must issue an executive declaration specifying where the emergency measures will apply and how long they will remain in force. The measure follows an earlier law, signed by Paz on May 27, that removed restrictions on the military’s involvement in putting down domestic unrest. (Jurist)

The Chinese government has come under criticism after reportedly failing to engage with a forthcoming judicial review concerning its controversial new embassy development at Royal Mint Court in central London, raising questions about transparency and accountability surrounding one of the UK’s most contentious planning decisions.

A legal challenge has been brought by the Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association, which argues that the government’s decision to approve the embassy failed to properly address the key objections raised during the planning process. (Jurist)