Indian authorities have released prominent Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez and journalist Irfan Mehraj on bail after years in prison on “terrorism” financing charges although both remain under tight court-imposed restrictions.

At least 20 people have been killed in northwest Nigeria after armed gang members attacked villages in Zamfara State, according to the AFP news agency. The attacks come amid increasing violence in northwest and central Nigeria, where armed gangs or bandits have raided villages in recent weeks.

They are accused of stealing livestock and kidnapping residents for ransom. Late on Tuesday, at least three suspected bandits were killed by security forces in the country’s Kwara State, according to Nigeria’s The Punch news website.

International Criminal Court judges reluctantly dropped a case Thursday against a fugitive Sudanese rebel accused of attacking African Union peacekeepers in Darfur nearly 20 years ago, after prosecutors said they could no longer prove their case at trial. 

India’s opposition parties have shut down parliament in a protest calling for the resignation of the education minister, in solidarity with the new youth-led “cockroach” movement.

Opposition politicians, led by the Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, gathered outside the parliament building in Delhi on Wednesday, many dressed in black and waving placards calling on Dharmendra Pradhan to quit.

A court in the Angolan capital of Luanda in central Africa has jailed two Russian men on charges ranging from espionage to terrorism on Tuesday evening local time. 

The BBC identified the two as political consultant Igor Ratchin and translator Lev Lakshtanov, who were jailed for 11 and 8 years respectively. 

Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orbán declared on Wednesday that he and his far-right Fidesz party will lead a peaceful “resistance” movement against what he called the tyrannical exercise of power by the country’s new center-right government.

The deposed leader of Turkey’s main opposition on Tuesday announced plans to establish a new political party to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said his country won’t be holding elections anytime soon, a statement underscoring the strongman’s efforts to extend his nearly 20-year rule and dashing hopes by the opposition that he might heed their demands for a democratic vote.