A boat of largely Rohingya Muslim asylum-seekers from Myanmar is adrift off the coast of Thailand and Malaysia, after having been turned away from both of those countries and Indonesia. This boat is among many that have been stranded in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca as a result of finger-pointing between South-East Asian countries of who should take responsibility for the thousands of asylum-seekers looking for refuge. Many of the boats have been abandoned by their crews, leaving people on board with no water, food or way to safety.

Malaysia and Indonesia in the past few days have both declared that they will not be accepting any more boats of asylum-seekers, after approximately 1500 arrived on their shores over the last week. On Tuesday the Indonesian navy turned away a boat carrying thousands of asylum-seekers, urging it on to Malaysia, while Malaysia turned away two boats on Wednesday carrying a total of approximately 800 passengers.

The president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, says he is back in the country, only a day after an attempted coup led to heavy clashes in the capital Bujumbura.

The country's military declared a coup against the president, a former Hutu rebel leader, following weeks of clashes between police and demonstrators protesting his decision to run for a 3rd presidential term.

Coup leader Major General Godefroid Niyombare, also a Hutu, in a press statement on Wednesday said,

“President Pierre Nkurunziza is removed from office, the government is dissolved. All people are asked to respect the lives and property of others.”

There were no new statements from Gen Niyombare on Thursday but a spokesman for the coup forces, Gen Cyrille Ndayirukiye, told Agence France-Presse the uprising had failed.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that her government will oppose any attempt by the British government to scrap the Human Rights Act in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon criticised the newly-elected Conservative government's plan to implement previous plans of abolishing the Human Rights Act and replace it with a new British Bill of Rights.

"I oppose the repeal of the Human Rights Act, I think it's an appalling thing to be doing,

"Human rights are there to protect all of us, for example it was the Human Rights Act that enabled people to go to court to object against the bedroom tax," she said in Edinburgh.

The Holy See has formulated its first treaty which recognises the State of Palestine, in an agreement dealing with Catholic activities in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

A joint statement released by the Vatican on Wednesday said the text of the treaty had been concluded and would be officially signed by the respective authorities "in the near future".

The agreement "aims to enhance the life and activities of the Catholic Church and its recognition at the judicial level", said Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, the Vatican's deputy foreign minister who led its delegation in the talks.