A coalition of leading British civil society groups has condemned the convictions of two prominent pro-Palestine leaders, accusing the United Kingdom of an “authoritarian” approach to protesters. 
  
Ben Jamal, 62, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Chris Nineham, 63, vice-chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, were earlier this month found guilty of breaching protest guidelines during a January 2025 demonstration. 
 

A court in Kosovo has convicted three ethnic Serbs on “terrorism” charges over their role in a deadly secession attempt near the country’s northern border in 2023. 
  
The Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Blagoje Spasojevic and Vladimir Tolic to life in prison and Dusan Maksimovic to a 30-year jail term on Friday over the attack in the village of Banjska, which led to a clash with police that left one police officer and three of the gunmen dead. 
 

Myanmar has imposed a state of emergency in 60 townships across nine states and regions, transferring sweeping powers to the military as authorities seek to contain ongoing violence, local media reported on Friday. 
 
The President’s Office said the emergency measures, declared Thursday, aim to suppress armed unrest, restore stability, and enforce the rule of law, according to local media outlet Eleven Myanmar. 
 

Israel and Lebanon on Thursday, April 23, extended a shaky ceasefire by three weeks, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, April 23, as he voiced hope for a historic three-way meeting soon and a potential peace deal. Trump, at a standstill in negotiations with Iran, spoke in glowing terms of peace prospects for Lebanon, even as Hezbollah fired new rockets following deadly Israeli strikes. 
 

The Iran war will push more than 30 million people back into poverty, with the knock-on effects of the conflict likely to increase food insecurity in the coming months, the United Nations has warned. 
  
Disruption to fuel and fertilizer supplies due to the ongoing blocking of cargo vessels through the Strait of Hormuz has already lowered agricultural productivity and will hit crop yields later this year, the UN’s development chief said on Thursday. 
 

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte will face trial at the International Criminal Court after judges on Thursday, April 23, confirmed charges of crimes against humanity over his so-called "war on drugs." Pre-trial judges "unanimously confirmed all the charges... against Rodrigo Roa Duterte and committed him to trial," the ICC said in a statement. 
 
Duterte will be the first Asian former head of state to face trial at the ICC, which prosecutes individuals for the world's worst crimes such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. 
  

A Salvadoran court on Tuesday began a collective trial of 486 alleged gang members, in one of the biggest mass trials under president Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gang violence through controversial emergency powers. 
  
Prosecutors say the charges against alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13) span more than 47,000 crimes committed between 2012 and 2022, including a weekend that was El Salvador’s bloodiest since its civil war. 
  

The EU’s highest court has found Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ law to be discriminatory, stigmatizing, and in breach of basic democratic values, setting up an early test for the incoming government when it takes power next month. 
  
In a wide-ranging judgment, the European court of justice said the 2021 law that bans content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV was at odds with a society based on pluralism and fundamental rights, such as prohibition of discrimination and freedom of expression. 
 

President Donald Trump on Tuesday, April 21, extended the US ceasefire with Iran to allow more time for talks, just hours before hostilities were set to resume, but he vowed to maintain a blockade of Tehran's ports. Trump indefinitely pushed back the end of the truce, crediting a request from mediator Pakistan and stressing the need to give Iran's "fractured" leadership time to form a proposal.