The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kosovo officially set April 21 as the scheduled date for conducting referendums regarding the dismissal of four Albanian mayors from municipalities. These mayors, whose elections took place last year, have been a source of heightened tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.  Citizens of Serb-dominated municipalities, including North Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zubin [...]

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional bloc in West Africa, announced on Saturday its decision to immediately lift sanctions imposed on Niger. This move aims to prevent the withdrawal of the junta-led nation from the bloc, considering the significant economic, financial and institutional implications for the country and the region. The [...]

Amnesty International (AI) issued a statement Monday urging Ethiopian authorities to stop using the country’s state of emergency as a way to “silence peaceful dissent” by arbitrarily detaining politicians and journalists critical of the government. The state of emergency, originally imposed for six months in August 2023 under Article 93 of the Ethiopian Constitution, granted [...]

Protesters in Indonesia took to the streets on Friday to demand the electoral authority stop former army general Prabowo Subianto, who is accused of committing human rights abuses, from taking office as the next president amid allegations of electoral fraud. Indonesia held elections on February 14, 2024. Prabowo Subianto, the current Minister of Defense under [...]

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India announced on Monday that the Emir of the State of Qatar decided to release eight Indian Navy veterans working for the Doha-based Dahra Global company, who were detained in Qatar due to their connection in an alleged espionage case in 2022. The MEA statement reads: The Government [...]

Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor on Friday began an investigation into the alleged spread of “LGBT propaganda” by the language learning application Duolingo, as reported by state-run news organization TASS. Specifically, Duolingo is suspected of running afoul of Article 5 of Russia’s law “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development,” [...]

Malaysia’s former finance minister, Tun Abdul Daim bin Zainuddin, was charged Monday for failing to comply with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) order to declare his assets. Zainuddin, along with his wife and two children, were requested in January 2024 to testify about “high-value assets” that are under their company’s name within and outside the country. Zainuddin, [...]

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), a peacekeeping mission in the DRC, reported on Saturday that it protected civilians escaping violent attacks in the eastern region of the DRC by deploying troops to secure a designated corridor. The mission said on X (formerly Twitter) that about 1,000 [...]

The Hutukara Yanomami Association, an indigenous group in Brazil, released a report for the year 2023 on Friday that assessed initiatives undertaken by the Brazil federal government to improve living conditions and control the practice of illegal mining in Yanomami Indigenous Land. The report underscored the bleak situation of the region and called the initiatives [...]

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) heard Russia’s appeal Friday against the sanctions imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The IOC in October 2023 banned the ROC with immediate effect for “breach of the charter.” The step came on the heels of the ROC recognizing the [...]