Trusted news agencies tracing tendencies of democratisation and autocratisation globally
A new five-year plan has been passed by China's People's Congress focusing on tech as expected. It also passed an ethnic unity law, mandating the use of Mandarin in schools and other measures. Rights activists say it could lead to further restrictions on ethnic minorities.
Senegal provided further evidence of broad African opposition to homosexuality when its parliament passed stiffer penalties for same-sex relations. The measure still has to be signed into law and is likely to draw opposition the country's European allies.
Washington has expanded its ban on the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization to include Sudan. The decision was immediately welcomed by the United Arab Emirates, a key US ally in the Middle East, which is accused of backing Sudan's RSF rebels.
Karin Prien, German minister for women's rights, slammed the US for failing to support an opening declaration at a UN conference on the status of women. Her remarks followed those of fellow-German Annalena Baerbock who called for the next UN chief to be a woman.
President Gustavo Petro's Pacto Histórico has emerged ahead in congressional elections, but lacks a majority to push through leftist reforms backed by Petro. Observers saw increased polarization ahead of presidential elections in May.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian who spent 14 years in the US detention centre at Guantánamo Bay, is at the centre of a legal tussle with the German city of Duisburg over a ban. He was freed without being charged in 2016 and subsequently alleged torture by his US captors.
A legal dispute in Bulgaria has led the European Court of Justice to rule that transgender people have a right in the European Union to identity documents that reflect their lived gender identity. The decision now goes back to the Bulgarian courts.
The forcible transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia and placing them with Russian families constitutes a crime against humanity in the view of a UN team. The report cites Vladimir Putin. It also highlights recruitment of soldiers by deception.
Australia has granted humanitarian visas to six Iranian footballers and a team delegation member after members of the national women's team decided not to return home. Australia said no pressure had been applied, but Iran alleged a "political conspiracy".
EU commissioners are highly critical of the decision by the Venice Biennale, one of the world's best-known art exhibitions, to re-open its Russian pavilion. The Ukrainian government had earlier voiced its strong disapproval.
