Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012, received the EU's Sakharov human rights prize at a ceremony in Strasbourg. The European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, presented the award to the 16-year-old who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013 presents updated estimates of undernourishment and progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and World Food Summit (WFS) hunger targets. The latest assessment shows that further progress has been made towards the 2015 MDG target, which remains within reach for the developing regions as a whole, although marked differences across regions persist and considerable and immediate additional efforts will be needed.

Tokyo on 7th September won the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games, overcoming fears about radiation from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant to land the 2020 edition of the world’s biggest sporting event.

The United Nations has investigated reports that the Syrian Government has used sarin in the ongoing Syrian civil war. The use of this deadly chemical weapon has been confirmed by French officials. According to French officials, the sarin gas has been used by the Syrian Government. 

Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta has emerged as the victor in Mali's elections after his main rival, Soumaïla Cissé, conceded defeat. The concession – a day before the official election result was expected and only hours after Cissé alleged that voting was marred by fraud – is likely to release billions of dollars of foreign aid to the west African country. Previously he was Prime Minister of Mali from 1994 to 2000 and President of the National Assembly of Mali from 2002 to 2007.

The World Games of 2013 took place in the city of Cali, Colombia, from July 25 2013 to August 4 2013. The sports are held under the categories of Martial Arts, Trend Sports, Ball Sports, Precision Sports, Strength Sports and Artistic and Dance Sports, Invitational Sports. It was held for the first time in 1981. This is the international multi-sport event, which includes those sports or events which are not contested in the Olympics.

According to latest researches, Dolphins have longest social memories among non-humans. University of Chicago researchers found that dolphins can recognise their old tank mates' whistles even after being separated for more than 20 years. The remarkable memory feat is another indication that dolphins have a level of cognitive sophistication comparable to only a few other species, including humans, chimpanzees and elephants.

Pakistani lawmakers elected a textiles magnate, Mamnoon Hussain to be the next president of a country plagued by Islamic extremism, only hours after Taliban militants launched a mass prison break freeing 100s of inmates. Pakistan’s president is not elected by popular vote, but by lawmakers in the Senate, National Assembly and the assemblies of the four provinces. 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has formally launched the Australian WikiLeaks Party and announced its federal election candidates. Assange has now officially declared his candidacy for a seat in the Australian Senate. 

According to official news, Russia will not extradite U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden. “Russia has never extradited anyone and will not extradite anyone in the future,” said Dmitry Peskov, Mr. Putin’s press secretary. Mr. Snowden, who filed for asylum in Russia last week, is currently waiting for clearance from Russian migration authorities to leave the transit zone at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. On July 26, 2013, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's letter to his Russian counterpart was made public wherein he assured the Russian government that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty for Snowden irrespective of the charges he might eventually face and that Snowden was able to legally travel to the U.S. on a limited validity passport.

Anxiety gripped everyone from civil liberties and Internet privacy advocates to the giants of the social media industry this week as revelations emerged of the secretive National Security Agency of the U.S. government collecting vast troves of user data from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple at least since September 11, 2007 under a programme named PRISM. 

The newly elected Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office on Wednesday, vowing to fix the ailing economy and end electricity blackouts while also calling for an end to American drone strikes in the tribal areas. He was elected as Pakistan’s Prime Minister to an unprecedented third term. Mr. Sharif emphasised that fixing the economy was his top priority. He listed the problems facing Pakistan, including unpaid loans, unemployment, a disillusioned youth, extremism and lawlessness, and widespread corruption. 

China has indicated it will go ahead with building transport corridor in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir despite India’s concerns, signing a MoU with Pakistan on a transport corridor expected to pass through the disputed region. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrapped up a 2 day visit to Pakistan following his trip to India, called on both countries to “start formulating a long-term plan for the China-Pakistan economic corridor project and gradually push forward its construction”. Chinese planners have called for a transport and economic corridor to link China’s far-western Xinjiang region to the port of Gwadar, on the Arabian Sea, which China helped build and is now managing. 

Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission has stated, security forces and judiciary should publicly apologise for abuses going back 50 years, its final report seen on this week. Set up after bloody post-election violence in 2007-08, Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) handed over its weighty four-volume report — containing huge number of testimonies gathered over four years detailing rights abuses in the country — to President Uhuru Kenyatta. Mr. Kenyatta and Vice-President William Ruto are named in the report for allegedly planning and financing violence during the post-election unrest, though the commission recommends no action be taken against them as they are awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court on similar charges. 

As plans to reduce Western troops gather pace in Afghanistan, the war-torn country on Thursday hoped to establish enhanced defence ties with India, including the supply of lethal and non-lethal military equipment. Kabul’s demand also comes just ahead of President Hamid Karzai will visit to India next week from May 21-22. Asked about what kind of defence assistance Afghanistan was looking to get from India, Afghanistan’s ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali said, “The partnership agreement does not distinguish between lethal and non-lethal (military equipment). 

The European Union is ready to make an "ambitious" offer on temporary work visas for Indian professionals to help finalise a delayed free trade agreement, the EU's chief negotiator said on Tuesday, and called on India to reciprocate.Negotiators had originally hoped to seal the deal in 2012, but talks stalled over issues including access for Indian workers to Europe's labour market. At stake is an agreement that would create one of the world's largest free-trade zones by population - covering 1.8 billion, or more than a quarter, of the world's people. The EU has been asking for greater market access in auto, wines and spirits while India wants liberalised visa norms for its professionals.

Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March. The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning. The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants. Benedict called his choice “a decision of great importance for the life of the church.” The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn’t have to be observed. “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he told the cardinals. “I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering," said Pope.

China’s Defence Minister said that Beijing reserves the right to take further action against Japan in the ongoing dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. According to the Minister, Japan should bear full responsibility for the dispute, which has triggered violent protests in China against the Japanese. U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has been pressing both China and Japan to find ways to resolve the problem peacefully and diplomatically. Defence Minister said he hopes the Japanese government “will undo its mistakes and come back to the right track of negotiations.” Tensions over the islands spiked last week when the Japanese government said it was purchasing some of them from their private owner.

The presidents of Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a regional pact to eliminate armed rebels in eastern Congo. Uneasy neighbors Congo and Rwanda, which have gone to war with each other in the past, have often swapped accusations about backing rival rebel groups, a charge that both countries deny.The pact foresees the creation of an international military force to take on multiple insurgencies in the eastern Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu. Both the countries lie in the Great Lake Region. The Great Lakes of Africa include some of the largest and most ecologically diverse freshwater systems on the planet. Read more about African Great Lake.