A Bangladesh court has doubled the jail time from five years to ten years for former prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. 

The case accused her, along with five others including her son, of embezzling approximately $253,000 from foreign donations intended for an orphanage set up for the former president, Ziaur Rahman, who was Khaleda's former husband. 

Ethiopia last week elected its first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, who is currently the only female head of state in Africa. Her appointment follows the resignation of Mulatu Teshome Wirtu on October 25. 

She is the fourth president under EPRDF rule which claimed power in Ethiopia in 1991, following a coup against the military regime.

Jair Bolsonaro, a far right candidate and former paratrooper, has won the presidential election in Brazil. His party, the Social Liberal Party (SLP) secured 56 percent of the vote running against the left-wing candidate Fernando Hadad of the Workers Party (PT) who gained 44 percent, according to the electoral authority TSE. 

Bolosonaro’s victory runs in sharp contrast to the previous government which was run by the leftist Workers Party (PT), which had run the country for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago due a dire recession and the nation’s largest corruption scandal. The former president, Michel Temer, was also wrapped up in this corruption scandal leaving him deeply unpopular. 

Indian and Japan signed a $75 billion bilateral currency swap agreement during the first day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tokyo.

During the trip Modi also announced that Japan and India had agreed a new programme aimed at deepening ties between both defence ministries  reports Bloomberg News.

Around a thousand Indonesian Muslims gathered for a protest in the capital Jakarta to protest against burning of an Islamic flag, linked to a banned organisation on Friday.

The Indian government has frozen the bank accounts of Amnesty International after an initial raid on its Bangalore office in Southern India on Thursday.

The US is set to revoke visas of 21 Saudi officials thought to be involved in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Having identified some of the Saudi government and security officials believed to be involved in the murder, the US State Department said 21 Saudis would have their visas revoked or be made ineligible for US visas.

Speaking to reporters, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said,

Australia has placed travel and financial sanctions on five of Myanmar’s most senior military officers who stand accused of overseeing violence against the Rohingya community.

The sanctions follow similiar actions by the European Union and United States placed on Myanmar’s military earlier this year.

The United Nations accused the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and it armed opposition of committing war crimes, in a report released last week.

The report by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office states that 900 people were abducted and 24,000 forced to flee their homes in the Western Equatoria region of South Sudan, as violence flared between the two sides.

The UK, German and French Foreign ministers condemned the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with “the strongest possible terms” on Sunday.

In a joint statement, the ministers said,

Punjab’s chief minister, Amarinder Singh has confirmed the deaths of 59 people and the injuries of 57 in a railway incident on Friday.

On that day a train ran over a large crowd which had gathered to celebrate a major Hindu holiday.

Chief Minister Singh has thus far declined to comment on the reasons behind the accident and has told reporters on Saturday that an official inquiry would be undertaken and completed within four weeks.

For the first time Saudi Arabia has confirmed the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after initially providing strenuous denials.

Khashoggi, a journalist for the Washington Post and US resident, initially arrived in Saudi Arabia’s consulate to file in documents certifying that he had divorced his ex-wife so that he could remarry.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has warned the Israeli government over the “imminent” planned eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, in the West Bank. 

The Chief Executive and chairman of Swedish group Lundin Oil may face charges of war crimes, after the Swedish government paved the way for an indictment to be issued this week.