Nearly 300 Rohingya refugees who were stranded at sea for months after being denied port in Southeast Asia were rescued by Indonesian fisherman this week. 

The group included 14 children, and two of the refugees were taken to the hospital for medical care. It has been reported that approximately 30 people died during the months they spent at sea.

Human Rights Watch said India should prohibit firing metal pellets through shotguns to disperse crowds in the restive Kashmir valley, in the wake of violent clashes with security forces when people defied a ban on public gatherings imposed due to reported concerns over the coronavirus pandemic on Muharram, an important date in the Shia calendar. 

Facebook chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled new measures to restrict the spread of misleading comments and politically-biased lies on Facebook before the United States presidential election on 3^rd November 2020. Zuckerberg said that he was “worried” but the election would not “be business as usual”.

He added, "With our nation so divided and election results potentially taking days or even weeks to be finalised, there could be an increased risk of civil unrest across the country.”

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) celebrated the Sierra Leone parliament’s repealed the criminal libel law on 23 July, completing President Maada Bio’s promise he made on the campaign trail before the 2018 election. 

In Sierra Leone, libel has been a punishable criminal offence since 1965, which journalists said restricted free speech and expression.

In a joint statement by Canada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they expressed their intention to intervene in support of Gambia’s genocide lawsuit against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Prashant Bhushan, an Indian public interest lawyer, who was fined one rupee for posting tweets that were critical of the Indian Supreme Court, called the decision “very dangerous”.

The Court imposed the fine for having “brought the administration of justice in disrepute and are capable of undermining the dignity and authority of the institution of Supreme Court in general and the office of the Chief Justice of India in particular, in the eyes of public at large”.

The builder who contracted a five-storey building in Maharashtra has been arrested following a collapse last month that saw at least 16 people killed.

The building collapsed during heavy monsoon rains in Mahad in the Raigad district, south of Mumbai. 

The office of the chief minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, tweeted about his contact with local representatives: “He has assured them that all possible support will be extended for speedy rescue and relief works.”

The leaders behind the coup in Mali said during an address to the nation that they will hold democratic elections, as talks on the transition to civilian rule begin in the country this weekend.

The talks come after former president Ibraham Boubacar Keïta, who was arrested last month, was moved to a private hospital overnight, and at least 10 soldiers were killed in an attack overnight.

Photo of Kaing Guek Eav at his 2009 trial 

Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, has died after admitting to overseeing torture and killings as many as 16,000 Cambodians whilst running the regime’s most notorious prison.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has claimed the number of complaints it has received from Iraq relating to unlawful detention and mistreatment by British soldiers is too numerous and that a full disclosure of the sum paid to settle claims would not be possible.

The MoD insists that they cannot provide the full figure as it would take weeks for civil servants to collate all the figures however claim that they are able to provide approximate figures for the thousands of complaints lodged against British troops during their involvement in the 2003 US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.

This statement comes as British parliament is set to debate a controversial bill, “the Overseas which would provide partial amnesty for troops who have committed serious crimes - including murder and torture - while serving outside the country.