A large Taliban offensive has killed at least 40 Afghan soldiers and police in Afghanistan's Baghlan province, reports Al Jazeera, as intense fighting continues between the two sides.

The attack on the military outpost, launched in the early hours of Wednesday, is the latest in a series of assaults launched by the Taliban across the country. It comes after the Taliban overran a military base in the northern Faryab province on Monday, killing at least 17 soldiers.

See more from Al Jazeera here.

Saudi Arabia announced it will hold an investigation into the “collateral damage” after an airstrike killed at least 40 Yemeni children in Saada province last week.

The airstrike, which Saudi Arabia initially said was a “legitimate military operation carried out in accordance with humanitarian law”, struck a bus carrying schoolchildren from a summer camp. At least 51 people were killed in the strike and a further 79 injured.

A mass funeral took place for the children this week, with thousands gathering to demonstrate against the attack.

Six people, inlcuding three Chinese workers were injured on Saturday when a Baloch fighter detonated an explosive device on a bus in Balochistan, killing himself. 

The bus was transporting engineers working on a mining project in the Dalbandin region. 

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack, posting a video on social media that it said was of its fighter taken before the attack. 

During the video, the fighter, Rehan Baloch, who is said to be the eldest son of the BLA senior commander, Aslam Baloch, demanded that China leave the region and stop taking its resources. 

The Republic of Vanuatu is seeking support from other Pacific islands towards a UN General Assembly resolution calling for the right to self-determination for West Papua, to be presented at the 74th session in September 2019. 

The draft text was presented last week at the Pacific foreign ministers' meeting in Apia, by Vanuatu's foreign minister, Ralph Regenvanu.

According to the Daily Post, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji expressed reservations about the draft resolution text.  

Last week Vanuatu also appointed a special envoy for West Papua, Lauri Lini, whose father is known as the founding father of Vanuatu. 

The Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik yesterday rejected a government report which acknowledged the Srebrenica genocide as "biased" and called for it to be withdrawn, AP reports. 

"The report is biased and does not mention Serb victims," Mr Dodik told parliament. His supporters voted to reject the report, arguing it was "not objective and is untrue". 

The report was written in 2004 by the previous Bosnian Serb government. 

Mr Dodik has consistently rejected UN reports describing the massacre of over 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica as a genocide. 

EU observers maintain that whilst there were irregularities there was not fraud, commenting on the recent runoff election in Mali between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and opposition leader Somalia Cisse.

Mr Cisse has rejected this arguing that the results were “neither sincere nor credible” and launched a legal challenge in Mali's constitutional court alleging "ballot box-stuffing”.

The election is the first time an incumbent president in Mali has had to face a runoff election.

A special tribunal in Bangladesh today sentenced five men to death for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the rape, murder and torture of civilians during the country's war of independence in 1971. 

The International Crimes Tribunal, led by Justice Shahinur Islam said the convicted men were part of the Muslim League and Al-Badr, who were working with the then occupying Pakistan army. 

All convicts sentences to death have one month to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court. 

Bangladesh's war crimes trials have been criticised by international human rights organisations however. 

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Friday raised concerns over China’s internment of over one million ethnic Uighurs in secret camps and that an additional 2 million were admitted into “re-education camps for political and cultural indoctrination”.

The Uighurs, China’s Turkic speaking Muslim minority, number approximately 10 million and are primarily based in the Xinjiang where they make up around 45% of the population.

Over a hundred Uighur students who returned to China from countries including Egypt and Turkey had been detained, with some dying in custody.

Human Rights Watch called on South Sudan’s leaders to ensure that there must not be an amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity as a peace agreement was signed in the country between the warring sides last week.

“Amnesty for atrocities not only conflicts with South Sudan’s international obligations, but experience shows it is no way to build a lasting peace,” said Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

“While South Sudan’s leaders may aim to provide assurances to opponents, they should make clear that the amnesty does not cover grave crimes by all parties since the conflict began.”

More than 50,000 Romanians, including thousands of diaspora members, took to the streets of Bucharest this weekend as part of an anti-government rally in Romania.              

More than 450 were reportedly hurt, as protestors demonstrating against corruption, clashed with Romanian police.

The crowds shouted slogans including "Diaspora is with us!" and "Justice, not corruption". The rally was reportedly organised on social media under the motto "Diaspora at Home,"

Riot police were seen firing tear gas into the crowds and firing a water cannon.