In a move intended to further ramp up pressure on Iran by strangling the revenue it gets from oil exports, The US State Department is poised to tell five nations, including allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey, that they will no longer be exempt from US sanctions if they continue to import oil from the Islamic country. The plans to not renew sanctions waivers for the five countries when they expire on 2 May are expected to be announced today by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The other countries no longer exempt would be China and India.

A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court has rejected a request to proceed with investigating possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including those allegedly involving US armed forces and the CIA. This comes in response to a request from ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in 2017, a prospect that US officials have strongly criticised.

Venezuelan lawmakers loyal to President Nicolas Maduro stripped opposition leader Juan Guaido of immunity Tuesday - and authorised the high court to criminally prosecute him for proclaiming himself the crisis-hit country's ruler.

The US President Donald Trump will host South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House for a summit amid uncertainty over the future of nuclear negotiations with North Korea. According to White House's Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Moon and Trump are scheduled to hold talks 11 April in Washington to "discuss the latest developments regarding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as well as bilateral matters."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has followed President Donald Trump's direction and ordered the State Department to halt country's humanitarian funding to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The decision comes a day after Trump indicated on Friday he would be cutting aid to the countries as punishment for their inability to stem the flow of migrants heading to the southern US border.

Social media executives could spend up to three years in prison and their firms be fined 10 percent of their turnover if they fail to quickly remove violent material from their platforms, according to a new law proposed by the Australian government. The new legislation will be presented to the parliament next week - in lawmakers' final days in power before the federal election.

New Zealand suffered its worst mass shooting of modern times, with 49 people dead and more than 20 seriously injured after a terrorist attack at two mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch.
According to the latest announcements from the police authorities, a 28-years-old Australian has been charged with murder and should appear in a local court tomorrow morning. 

The US is reportedly preparing to impose sanctions on all EU firms that co-finance Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany and companies involved in laying the pipes in the Baltic Sea. According to WSJ, which first reported the news, the financial penalties would follow an amendment to existing measures against Russia, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

Another member of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet has resigned in protest over accusations that the PM and his aides tried to influence a criminal case against a multinational Canadian company accused of bribing the Libyan government.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has returned to his country without being arrested, while announcing a new round of anti-government protests and vowing not to give up until President Nicolas Maduro is ousted from power.