The United States and either other governments have requested the United Nations fact-finding mission that investigated atrocities committed by Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims brief the UN Security Council this week.

The UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar was set up in March 2017 and headed by Marzuki Darusman who also co-authored the 2011 report produced by a panel of experts on mass atrocities in Sri Lanka. The report calls for an investigation into the genocide of the Rohingya people and for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Three senior Afghan officials have been killed and two American officials injured, in a Taliban attack in Kandahar on Thursday that narrowly missed the top US commander in Afghanistan.

Police Chief, General Abdul Raziq; the provincial governor of Kandahar, Zalmai Wesa; and, intelligence chief General Abdul Mominera were killed in the attack. Two American officials were injured but US General Austin Miller, commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, managed to survive without injuries.

Thousands participated in an anti-Indian protest in the city of Srinagar in Kashmir, following a joint funeral commemorating those who died during the shootout with the Indian security forces. 

During the protest most shops and businesses closed in solidarity with the protest and civilians marched the streets chanting “Go India, go back” and “Long live Pakistan”. Police officials reported incidents of protestors throwing stones at security forces. In response Indian authorities deployed paramilitary soldiers and heavily armed police to monitor the protest as well as imposing a curfew.

Police have arrested at least 26 people during anti-government protests in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Sunday. These protests were organised by an alliance of 40 opposition groups calling on President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, to resign.

The current demonstrations began in April of this year and demanded that proposed changes to the nation’s pensions schemes be scrapped. However following heavy handed and sometimes violent state repression of the protests, the situation has escalated.

The protestors are now demanding that Ortega step down.

The United States Senate passed a resolution this week, recognising the Ukraine famine of 1932-33 as a genocide, committed by Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

Millions of people were killed in the famine, also known as the Holodomor famine, in which the Soviet regime is thought to have engineered conditions leading to devastating shortages of food.

The election of human rights abusing countries to the UN Human Rights Council, where the likes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt already have seats, has drawn criticism from human rights groups.

The Philippines and Eritrea were elected to the council on Friday, despite campaigners urging UN members to oppose their candidacy.

Bahrain and Cameroon were also elected.

The council was established in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights, with a purpose to promote and protect human rights around the world.

The council’s has had Sri Lanka’s human rights violations on its agenda since 2012.

Canada will maintain pressure on Saudi Arabia over human rights despite a diplomatic row between the two countries, the Canadian prime minister has said.

“We have been engaged in a significant diplomatic effort with Saudi Arabia for many years now on ... the issue of human rights. We continue to bring it up any time I have the opportunity to meet with Saudi leadership,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Yerevan, Armenia.

Saudi Arabia froze new trade with Canada in August after the Canadian embassy published a tweet urging the release of jailed women’s rights activists. The Canadian ambassador was also expelled.

The Chinese regional government in Xinjiang has legalised “re-education centres” for local Uighur Muslims after denying their presence as interment camps. 

Professor Maurice Kamto, leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement's (CRM), claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential election despite the constitutional council not yet proclaiming the official results and a massive boycott from conflict-ridden Anglophone regions.

Supporters of Kamto took to the streets of the capital Yaoundé to celebrate his victory on Monday, despite the lack of official declaration of the results. This ends reign of Africa’s oldest leader President Paul Biya who took office in 1982. Had he won this election he would have retained power till 2025. 

Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador warned pharmaceutical companies in the country that if they did not contain their prices he would seek business elsewhere, stating that they were paying too much for medicine. 

During a speech in Morelia, Obrador said that his budget would provide the public with free medicine and would bring an end to what he termed “corruption” from pharmaceutical companies, reports Reuters.