Hundreds took to the streets in Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against the ban on pro-independence candidates standing in the upcoming Legislative Council election on September 4. 

A curfew continues to be enforced in Indian-administered Kashmir for the 43rd day, as clashes between security forces and protestors rumbled on.

The United Nations said it would provide “material assisstance” to the victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti, days after admitting its role in the spread of the diseases.

After almost 6 years of denying it had any role in the epidemic, which has killed thousands so far, the UN this week acknowledged that it bore some responsibility for the spread of the disease.

Humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) announced that it will be withdrawing staff from hospitals in northern Yemen, following yet another Saudi-coalition air strike on one of its buildings.

19 people were killed in Monday’s airstrike, marking the fourth time MSF buildings have been hit and the deadliest attack to date.

The Australian government on Wednesday agreed to close its off-shore asylum camp in Papua New Guinea after files leaked earlier this month showed over 2000 incidents of sexual abuse and assault, including against children.

No date has been set however, for the closure. Meanwhile, Australia's immigration minister stressed that no one would be settled in Australia.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces claimed to have captured several villages on the outskirt of Mosul, as they pushed to retake the last major city in Iraq under the Islamic State’s control.

In a massive offensive backed by US air strikes Kurdish and Iraqi government troops advanced towards the city on Sunday. More than 5,000 Kurdish troops are involved in the operation, said a commander to the BBC.

Doctors working in the besieged Syrian town of Aleppo warned that the use of chemical weapons is becoming the new normal in the conflict, after reports of yet another chlorine gas attack killed three people and injured dozens more.

US Secretary of State John Kerry criticised China’s restrictions and militarisation of the South China Sea at a regional meeting in Malaysia.

Accusing China of constructing facilities for military purposes on man-made islands, Mr Kerry said,

FARC has agreed conditions for the release of a Colombian general and four others, after negotiations with the Colombian government.

The negotiations were mediated by Cuban and Norwegian officials, who announced that the captives would be released as soon as possible.

Cuban diplomat Rodolfo Benitez and Norwegian official Rita Sandberg made the announcement on Thursday, after the talks in Havana, but gave no indications as to what the conditions placed by FARC were.

Kurdish fighters have resumed their armed struggle in Iran after two decades of ceasefire.

The Times reports that scores have died as a result of cross-border artillery barrages, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard threatening to strike at insurgent bases.

The Spanish government is seeking to bring criminal charges against Catalan leaders for allowing their assembly to vote for independence.

The Catalan parliament in Barcelona voted on Wednesday to continue plans to increase the community's self-determination.

Chad's former president must compensate victims who suffered under his rule a court, set-up by Extraordinary African Chambers, in Dakar has ruled.

Hissène Habré was sentenced to life in prison in May after being convicted of war crimes, rape, sexual slavery and crimes against humanity, all committed during his rule between 1982 and 1990.

The leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, a militant jihadist group in Syria, announced that the organisation will be breaking away from al-Qaeda and changing its name, in a move designed to halt attacks from the US-led coalition in Syria.

The group, also known as the al-Nusra Front, announced the decision in a video released on Thursday.