PAKISTAN: The upper house of parliament today passed controversial legislation that critics say threatens freedom of speech.

The Bill, passed by the lower house of parliament last Thursday, grants the government extensive powers to impose heavy fines and incarcerate social media users for spreading disinformation.

Journalists rallied today in Pakistan’s major cities, vowing to resist government efforts to curb freedom of speech.

SYRIA: A delegation of Russian officials arrived in Damascus today for the first such visit since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad.

The delegation included Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Alexander Lavrentyev, President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy on Syria, RIA Novosti reported.

UNITED STATES: The village of East Palestine and the Norfolk Southern Railway have announced a $22 million (around £18m) settlement of all of the village’s claims arising from a disastrous 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

The settlement is to be used for priorities that the village identifies in connection with the derailment, but it also recognises about $13.5m (about £11m) that Norfolk Southern have already paid to the village, according to the joint announcement posted on the village’s website on Monday.

NORTHERN IRELAND: The inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people, opened today.

The Real IRA attack in the centre of the Co Tyrone town was the biggest single atrocity of the Troubles and took place four months after the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

The inquiry seeks to determine whether the British state could have averted the bombing.