The Constitutional Court in Macedonia struck down a law yesterday which blocked the president from pardoning perpetrators of certain crimes including election fraud, according to the Macedonian media. The decision comes in the midst of an investigation into alleged vote rigging by, among others, members of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's cabinet.

A member of the Russian Parliament is preparing a draft law that would make insulting President Vladimir Putin a criminal offence carrying up to a six year jail sentence, Russia Today (RT) said.

International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney said Azerbaijan is abusing its power by trying to silence its critics, including imprisoned OCCRP partner and reporter Khadija Ismayilova, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Military analysts have again identified Balkan-made arms in the hands of Syrian rebel groups, OCCRP’s partner center BIRN reported. The weapons appear to originate from both Serbia and Bulgaria.

French police have charged dozens of members of the staff of Hotel Drouot, a famous Paris auction house, for a long standing scheme that allegedly stole millions of Euros worth of artwork and other valuables from its clients, the Associated Press (AP) said.

More than one million Brazilians took the streets across the country on Sunday demanding removal of President Dilma Rousseff in light of a major corruption scandal rocking the nation’s headlines, El Pais reported.

More than 1,000 people have been displaced in western Colombia in recent weeks as fighting broke out among leftist guerrillas and drug trafficking paramilitaries, the Colombian website Insight Crime reported last week.

US authorities have charged Bulgarian resident Nedko Nedev with six counts of fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft, according to the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York.

They are few but they are vocal. They are religious and march with icons by they also wear military clothes. They love God, but hate war refugees and minorities. They believe they defend their country, but regularly flout its laws.

Cybercriminals managed to steal around US$ 80 million from the accounts of Bangladesh’s central bank last month, but a spelling mistake prevented them from taking nearly US$ 1 billion, according to the Guardian.