<p>Two imprisoned Catalan leaders began a hunger strike this week to protest against what they described as unfair treatment by Spain.&nbsp;</p> <p>Jordi Sanchez, the head of the grassroots independence movement Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Jordi Turull, former minister in Catalan’s regional government, condemned the Spanish government's treatment of them.&nbsp;</p>

<p>An anti-Taliban Shia Hazara militant commander has been released by Afghanistan’s government after two days of violent protests, following his arrest earlier this month.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A senior Argentinian prosecutor is to launch a case against Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia over war crimes committed by the country's military in Yemen.&nbsp;</p> <p>The decision comes as the Crown Prince arrived in Buenos Aires to attend the G20 summit and follows a petition by Human Rights Watch urging action.&nbsp;</p>

Canada imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals today over the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi almost one month ago. 

The affected nationals will not be allowed entrance into Canada and will have any of their assets within Canada frozen. All of the nationals are at present imprisoned however, making travel not possible. 

<p>Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) MP Ian Blackford called for independence earlier this month, calling on Westminster to “show respect for Scotland”.</p> <p>“Scotland voted to remain in the EU,” Blackford tweeted.</p>

<p>Uganda police used tear gas and live rounds to break up a gathering of opposition supporters in the southwestern town of Rukungiri on Monday reports Reuters.</p> <p>Patrick Onyango, a spokesman for the police, reported that they had arrested 15 people from the Forum For Democratic Change (FDC), Uganda’s largest opposition party, for allegedly staging an illegal meeting.</p>

<p>Santos Lopez Alonzo, 66, a former soldier during the Guatemalan civil war has been tried and sentenced to 5,160 years in prison, more than three decades after the crimes he is accused of took place.</p> <p>The Guatemalan civil war came to an end on 2nd December 1996 after 36-years of a bloody conflict, with high civilian casualties, several counts of alleged human rights abuses and genocide. &nbsp;The conflict was between the Guatemalan government, which was receiving support from the US government against left-wing indigenous Mayan guerrillas, with estimates of up to 200,000 casualties during the conflict.</p> <p>Alonzo is accused of being a combatant in the US trained elite special forces group named ‘Kaibiles’ in the Guatemalan military during the war. He allegedly partook in a large civilian massacre in the village of Dos Erres in 1982, which saw over 200 fatal casualties – 171 of which have been attributed to Alonzo himself. The civilians in the village, which was sympathetic to the Mayan insurgency, are reported to have been unarmed and no combatants present.</p>

<p>Bermuda's top court ruled legislation banning same-sex marriage violated the 1968 constitution which included protection on freedom of conscience.&nbsp;</p> <p>The Bermuda’s Domestic Partnership Act which prohibited same-sex marriage in favour of domestic partnerships was passed in June of this year.&nbsp;</p> <p>Lawyers contesting the ban have argued the government had only passed it to appease a religious lobby in their small island.</p>

<p>Pakistani authorities have arrested the fundamentalist Islamic cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi whose supporters have held violent rallies against the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit the Christian woman, Asia Bibi in a blasphemy case.&nbsp;</p> <p>Supporters of the Islamic cleric and his party the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party (TLP), have responded to his arrest on Friday by vowing to shut major cities in a call for stricter adherence to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.</p>

<p>A suicide bombing in the northwest region of Orakzai in Pakistan on Friday killed at least 25 people.&nbsp;</p> <p>A suicide bomber drove into a crowd which had gathered to visit a market and attend a festival before detonating explosives.&nbsp;</p> <p>No group has claimed responsibility for this attack.</p>

Security officials have reported 26 people were killed and 50 wounded in a suicide bombing on Friday in a mosque in the Ismail Khel district of Khost province, Afghanistan. 

Whilst there has been no immediate claims on who is responsible for the attack, the Taliban is believed to be responsible.

The Taliban has waged a series of attacks against Afghan security forces in recent weeks in the hopes of ousting the Western-backed government and foreign forces.

<p>Thousands of farmers have marched close to 40 km from the western state of Maharashtra to the state capital Mumbai to demand the transfer of forest land to villagers who have worked the land for decades.</p> <p>The protest which took place on Thursday is the second major demonstration against the BJP government with the first occurring in March when over 35,000 farmers marched over 180km from Nashik to Mumbai, led by the left-winged All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).</p>

<p>The United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) earlier this month.</p> <p>Adopting resolution 2240 (2018) by a recorded vote of 12 in favour with 3 abstentions, the Security Council&nbsp;extended the MINURSO mandate by a further 6 months, and backed the UN Secretary General’s plan to initiate negotiations for a&nbsp;“realistic, practicable and enduring political solution..which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.”</p> <p>Initially established in 1991 with proposals accepted by Morocco and the Frente Polisario movement the MINURSO was tasked with monitoring the ceasfire; overseeing exchange of political prisoners, repatriation of refugees and the eventual organisation of a free and fair referendum in which the people of Western Sahara would choose between independence and integration with Morocco. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Denmark’s foreign minister, Anders Samuelsen announced this week Denmark will suspend its exportation of weapons to Saudi Arabia following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and consistent human rights violations in Yemen.&nbsp;</p> <p>Saudi Arabia is one of the largest weapons importers and is part of a military coalition waging war in Yemen, that has engaged in human rights violations.</p>