Following the US assassination of Iran’s chief General, Qasem Soleimani, Iraq’s parliament has voted to expel the approximately 5,200 US troops stationed in their country.

The bill was passed through Iraqi parliament on Sunday 170-0 however many of the representatives, particularly Kurdish and Sunni representatives, did not attend the session to vote.

Spain’s electoral board has ordered that pro-independence Catalan presidency Quim Torra be disqualified from being a member of the region’s parliament, meaning he would lose his presidential post.

The English Football Association (FA) has charged Barnsley Football Club with sectarian abuse of Stoke FC player, James McClean. 

The FA has stated that Barnsley FC had not effectively stopped abuse from its supporters. The association saw “abusive and/or insulting words which included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or religion and/or beliefs" in the match on November 9, 2019.

Iranian opposition website, Kaleme, has reported that at least 631 people have been killed in protests against the rise in fuel prices which began on 15 November. 

US President Donald Trump was pictured with a former US Navy Seal who was granted clemency after being committed for war crimes.

Chief petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, who had initially been cleared by a military jury of murder but was convicted with posing with the body of a dead teenage Islamic State fighter, was pictured with Trump in Florida last week.

Some 400 protestors were arrested by police in Hong Kong after hundreds of thousands of people reportedly attended a New Year’s Day march in the city, in the latest round of anti-government demonstrations.

Riot police were deployed and tear gas fired after police officials blamed radical protestors for “hijacking” the march, which was initially permitted by authorities before they attempted to shut it down.

A mother of a British woman who was convicted in Cyprus after authorities claimed she had lied about being raped, has called for a tourism boycott of the country.

Dozens of political prisoners have been released form Nicaragua, following the strengthening of US sanctions on the country and hunger strikes from the mothers of those being detained.

The Nicaraguan government said that at least 91 prisoners had been released, but the New York Times reported that it remained unclear whether their sentences have been converted to a form of house arrest or if the charges had been dropped.

The Indian government announced it will begin plans for a third lunar mission this year, named “Chandrayaan-3”.

The head of India’s space agency K Sivan made the announcement on Wednesday, stating the project “may spill over” into 2021.

A Sudanese court has sentenced 29 intelligence officers to death by hanging for torturing and killing a teacher.

Ahmad al-Khair, 36, was arrested and kept in custody due to taking part in the protests against former president Omar al-Bashir in February this year. His family were told by security officials that Ahmed al-Khair died from food poisoning but a state investigation later revealed he had died due to injuries sustained through beating.

›

Guam, which is a US territory, has filed an appeal against a court decision which denied the right of Guam to hold a vote on independence based on the principal of self-determination.

The court ruled that such a vote would violate the constitution as it is ‘race-based’ and contradicts the Fifteenth Amendment.