Pakistan’s Provincial Assembly of the Punjab passed on Monday The Punjab Defamation Bill 2024, which allows the establishment of special tribunals to try individuals who draft, publish or disseminate fake news, according to local outlet Pakistan Today. The act’s passage comes amid protests and free speech concerns from opposition parties. The official purpose of the [...]

China’s Ministry of Commerce on Monday announced sanctions against three US defense companies for selling arms to Taiwan, placing the companies on the “unreliable entities list.” According to a statement published by China’s State Council Information Office, the sanctioned companies are General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. [...]

India’s Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested four Sri Lankan nationals at Ahmedabad airport on Monday. Authorities linked the suspects to the Islamic State (ISIS). The four were reportedly in contact with a key ISIS leader known as Abu. The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented on the arrests. The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) [...]

Israeli officials from the Ministry of Communications seized equipment from the Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday and took down the news organization’s live feed of northern Gaza. Shlomo Karhi, the country’s communications minister, said on X (formerly Twitter) that a recently passed media law allowed the communications ministry to cut the feed and claimed the [...]

The UN Security Council rejected on Monday a resolution drafted by Russia that urged countries to prevent the use of weapons in space. The resolution’s proclaimed purpose was to prevent an arms race in space and preserve space for exclusively peaceful purposes. With seven votes in favor, among them China, and seven against, the draft [...]

The US Department of State announced on Monday the public designation of former Chief of the Bangladesh Army Staff Aziz Ahmed for significantly engaging in corruption. Under section 7031(c) of the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, a public designation imposes a travel ban against Aziz and his immediate family [...]

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Nigerian authorities on Monday to investigate the detention of journalist Jamil Mabai in Katsina, Nigeria by officials of the Katsina State Hisbah Corps, a religious police force, and hold responsible parties accountable. According to the CPJ, Mabai went to the office of the Katsina State Hisbah Corps to [...]

The New Zealand government on Monday introduced the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill to reinstate local electorate polls on Māori wards and constituencies, despite the Waitangi Tribunal finding that the proposed legislation breaches the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi is one of the country’s founding constitution [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian-born former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was seeking to wipe away his war crimes convictions, including one for the killing of a US soldier in Afghanistan. Khadr waived his right to appeal in 2010 when he pleaded guilty to murder charges. Despite a subsequent [...]

The Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled Monday that former president Jacob Zuma is disqualified from running for a seat in Parliament in the upcoming national election due to a prior criminal conviction. The court said in its order: It is declared that Mr Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months’ [...]