The United Nations (UN) rights chief on Tuesday urged Bangladesh to halt imminent plans to start returning Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, warning doing so risked further grave violations against the Muslim minority.

Last week, Malaysia presented its report for the 3rd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at Geneva, Switzerland.

Last year, Taiwan’s apex court ruled that the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman under Taiwan’s civil law is against their constitution, which effectively means that Taiwan is the first country in Asia to legalise gay marriage. This year, India’s courts overturned a colonial-era law which criminalises consensual gay sex.

By most global indicators, Singapore would probably surpass many advanced nations. For example, Singapore is considered one of the least corrupt countries in the world, it has the lowest tax rates and has the third highest per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity. By all means – economically at least – Singapore is considered one of the most open countries. However, that openness is largely limited to the economy.

Food is a powerful storyteller. Our diet signals whether we cook at home, shop locally, prefer inexpensive dishes, or even think about what we eat. But the consumer side of mealtime is just one of food’s many plot lines. Food has backstories, too, none more unsavoury than this one: agricultural workers – the people who make dinner possible – are also the most likely to go to bed hungry.Every day, some 1.1 billion people – one-third of the global workforce – go to work at the world’s farms.

A dissident Vietnamese blogger known by the pen name "Mother Mushroom" was on her way to freedom in the United States (US) on Wednesday after being released from prison where she was serving 10 years for anti-state propaganda, sources told AFP.

On 10 October, also known as World Day Against the Death Penalty, Malaysia’s minister in charge of law in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong announced that the cabinet has agreed to abolish the death penalty. Vui Keong told the media that the government will table a bill in the next parliament sitting to abolish the death penalty. This comes as a pleasant surprise for many as Malaysia has been actively enforcing the death penalty.

The European Union (EU) recently told Cambodia that the Kingdom will lose its special access to the world's largest trading bloc, saying that it was ready to punish human rights abuses in the country. The EU warned that it has launched a six-month review of Cambodia's duty-free access to the EU; meaning garments, sugar and other exports could face tariffs within the next 12 months.

On 10 December, 1948, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirming the view that “the will of the people” – democracy – should form the basis of any government. But seven decades later, the world’s democracies are in peril. After a fourfold increase in the number of democracies between the end of World War II and 2000, we are now in a sustained period of political regression.

The world’s eyes are fixated on Myanmar. Numerous online petitions have been set up among the international community to voice concerns for the Rohingya Muslims. At the same time, there are also online campaigns being run by people in Myanmar speaking out against the international media’s reports about the situation in Rakhine state.Today, apart from the Rohingya crisis, Myanmar is also gaining international infamy because of its treatment of two Reuters journalists.