The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen announced that it has released (Reuters) two hundred Houthi rebels being held as prisoners, as part of efforts to end the country’s five-year war.

The United States has backed efforts (Bloomberg) toward a negotiated end to the conflict, which have been facilitated by Oman (AP) since September. The Houthis released more than three hundred detainees that month. The coalition also announced on Thursday that it will work with the World Health Organization to enable flights out of the capital of Sanaa, which is under Houthi control, to transport people in need of medical treatment.

Japan’s foreign minister voiced support (Kyodo) for upholding human rights and the rule of law in China when asked about recent reports on the detention of Muslims in its Xinjiang region. He said he told his Chinese counterpart that Tokyo is monitoring the situation with concern. 

This CFR Backgrounder looks at China’s repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Vietnam: The bodies of sixteen Vietnamese migrants who were found dead in a truck in southeastern England last month have been returned to Vietnam (BBC) as investigations into the deaths continue in both countries.

The Supreme Court of India ruled that states (Guardian) must pay compensation to their citizens for failing to ensure their water and air are clean. State governments now have six weeks to make their cases that they should not be held responsible for pollution.

Bangladesh: An antiterrorism court handed death sentences (AP) to seven men for their involvement in a 2016 attack on a Dhaka cafe that killed more than twenty people.

Saad Hariri, who has served as caretaker prime minister since he resigned last month amid nationwide protests, said he does not want to lead (Al Jazeera) the country’s next government. President Michel Aoun will reportedly consult with Parliament tomorrow before naming Hariri’s successor.

The country will vote (AP) for a new president and legislature today, following a campaign that saw unusually high support for a nonincumbent. Panduleni Itula, President Hage Geingob’s main challenger, is from the ruling SWAPO Party but is running as an independent. 

South Sudan: The national security service recruited some ten thousand troops from President Salva Kiir’s ethnic stronghold in a violation of the country’s peace deal (AP), a new UN report found. The deal calls for a joint military force of government and opposition fighters.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a conference (Reuters) on the future of the European Union to be held in early 2022. They also proposed consultations with EU citizens before then on how to better equip the bloc to deal with security and economic challenges.

This CFR Backgrounder explains how the European Union works.

Malta: The prime minister’s chief of staff and two of his ministers have resigned (Guardian) amid controversy over the 2017 murder of corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, though they denied any wrongdoing. Caruana Galizia’s reporting implicated two of the politicians.

President Sebastian Pinera sent a bill (Reuters) to the legislature that would allow the military to redeploy to the streets to guard infrastructure as nationwide protests continue. Rights groups have alleged grave abuses by Chilean security forces in recent weeks.

Canada: The country’s largest railway reached a deal (CBC) with a rail workers’ union to end a weeklong strike. Farmers had been putting pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to resolve the strike quickly.

Federal regulators proposed new rules (WSJ) that would allow the U.S. Commerce Department to block telecommunications deals seen as a threat to information on U.S. wireless networks and installations of technology developed under the direction of a foreign adversary.