US secret court gave NSA permission to spy on 193 countries and major organizations

About 30 bodies have been found on a migrant boat bound for Italy, among around another 560 refugees crowded onboard travelling between North Africa and Italy.

The refugees likely died of asphyxiation, according to the navy and coastguard.

Although not the first time the Italian coastguard have found immigrants dead on overcrowded boats, they have never found such a number at one time.

Over the weekend the number of migrants arriving in Europe by boat this year tipped over 60,000. The largest number ever was 63,000 in 2011 as a result of the Arab Spring, but numbers are expected to be much higher this year.

A human rights activist who had been a prominent figure in Libya's Arab Spring revolution in 2011 was killed at her home yesterday during the general election.

Salwa Bugaighis was killed by a gunman who broke into her home in Benghazi, also wounding a security guard and abducting her husband, who is still missing.

It is believed the couple had just returned from voting when the gunman attacked.

Earlier in the day, Bugaighis has been speaking on phone on live television denouncing militants who had attacked army troops positioned at a polling station near her home.

Bugaighis, a lawyer, helped lead the charge during the February 2011 revolution. She later resigned from the first rebel administration, accusing it of excluding female members.

An activist for women's rights, she opposed women being forced to wear the hijab, which brought her into conflict with the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist extremist. She also championed a campaign to set minimum quotas for female representation in parliament, which was successful.

Hanan Salah of Human Rights Watch said yesterday that "the killing seems intended to silence critics and muzzle dissent.

"Her conviction that dialogue is the only way out for Libya is now forever silent."

Earlier this year Bugaighis and her family left Libya after one of her three children had been threatened by gunmen. The returned just months ago ready to continue campaigning.

Today, all over the world, Amnesty International's members and activists are taking to the streets to ask governments to take action.

On International Day in Support of Victims of Torture the idea is to stand in solidarity with anyone who has suffered torture, and to demand that governments stop this barbaric practice and make sure torture survivors get justice.

On this occasion Amnesty is publishing personal stories of people who have been tortured. Here is one of them, the story of Moses Akatugba from Nigeria:

"Aged 16, Moses was awaiting the results of his secondary school exams when his life changed forever. On 27 November 2005, the Nigerian army arrested and charged him with stealing three phones and various other items.

Moses describes being shot in the hand and soldiers beating him on the head and back. He was taken to an army barracks, and shown the body of a dead man. When he was unable to identify who it was, he was beaten again.

If Moses had been allowed to call a lawyer - or even just his mother - it could have protected him from being tortured. But for the first 24 hours, nobody knew where he was.

Moses was moved to Epkan police station in Delta State and says police severely beat him with machetes and batons; tied and hanged him for several hours in interrogation rooms and used pliers to pull-out his finger and toe nails in order to force him to sign two confessions.

At his trial, the investigating officer failed to show up. Moses was convicted solely on the basis of the victim's statement and the two confessions he made while being tortured.

After eight years in prison, Moses was sentenced to death by hanging. Today, Moses is traumatized, his life hanging in the balance."

The international campaign and ways to take immediate action can be followed here.

With only four months until the next general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina, minorities still do not have the right to run for election.

Despite the 2009 European Court of Human Rights ruling that it is discriminatory for the constitution to prevent minorities from running for presidency or the upper house of parliament, the law has not been changed since.

As a result, candidates with Jewish or Roma backgrounds are not eligible to be elected.

Human rights groups, including Minority Rights Group International and Human Rights Watch, have mounted a campaign to have the ruling changed in time for the October election. The campaign particularly supports the case of a Bosniak from the Republika Srpska who has been prevented from running for high office.

A new Panic Button app, to give human rights defenders urgent help from their own networks when facing attack, kidnapping, or torture is now available for public download on Google Playstore, announced Amnesty International yesterday.

Amnesty says "The ‘Panic Button’ mobile app for Android, developed by Amnesty International in collaboration with iilab, activists, tech experts and volunteers from around the world, transforms a user’s smart phone into a secret alarm which can be activated rapidly in the event of an emergency, alerting fellow activists to the danger their colleague faces so that they can get help faster."

“The aim of the Panic Button is to increase protection for activists around the world who face the ever present threat of arrest, attack, kidnap and torture,” said Tanya O’Carroll, Technology and Human Rights Officer for Amnesty International.

“We have long known that the first hours after somebody’s arrest are the crucial window of opportunity for a network to make a difference to their colleague’s release—whether it be flooding the police station with calls, arranging a protest, or mobilizing lawyers and organizations like Amnesty International for a campaign of international pressure.”

“This is an essential tool for activists, human rights defenders, students and lawyers. Everyone who might face danger in their work needs to have Panic Button on his or her phone.”

Illustration by panicbutton

In an attempt to protect future generations from the negative health effects of smoking, British doctors will vote this week on whether to campaign for a permanent ban on the sale of cigarettes to people born after the year 2000.

The British Medical Association is set to vote on a motion which, if successful, would see doctors lobby the government for this permanent ban.

The vote will take place at the association's annual general meeting on Tuesday.

According to the Guardian, the British Medical Association has previously lobbied successfully for a ban on smoking in public places and smoking in cars with children.

The idea behind the ban is that the next generation should not suffer the same widespread smoking-related deaths of the 20th century.

The vote is sure to ignite debate about restrictions on liberty versus the right to good health for all citizens.

Today is World Refugee Day and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is asking people to share stories to commemorate the day.

Whether it's adding your story to the inspiring collection on the UNHCR website, or taking a moment to read someone else's story and share it with others on social media, everyone is invited to take part.

UNHCR has collected a vast array of refugee tales which people are welcome to add to throughout the day. The stories create a picture of refugees throughout time - not just Syrians currently living in Zaatari camp but also grandchildren retelling their grandparents' stories of flights from Eastern Europe to Britain, and many more.

As well as this storyboard, famous personalities such as British actress Emma Thompson have gotten onboard to share their own experiences. In the video Thompson and her adopted son Tindy tell the story of 16 yealr old Tindy arriving in the UK after being a child soldier in Rwanda, and how their lives have been enriched by becoming a family.

We encourage you to take time today to learn a refugee story and share it among your peers. Getting to know the people behind the news bulletins and statistics is what strengthens the cause for better conditions for refugees everywhere.

Oxfam has been present in Southern Sudan since 1983, providing humanitarian aid to victims of conflict, drought and floods, as well as long-term development assistance to some of the most vulnerable communities, focussing on public health, livelihoods and emergency response combined with gender, diversity and conflict-sensitive programming, policy and advocacy work.

The conflict that broke out in South Sudan on 15th December 2013 has left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Vulnerable populations continue to flee ongoing fighting in South Sudan as seasonal rains worsen their already dire living conditions.

Oxfam is currently supporting people affected by the conflict with clean water, sanitation and emergency food security. Over 7 million people are at risk of food insecurity and 4.9 million of them are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

Since fighting between government troops and rebel forces erupted last year:

• Over one million people have fled their homes and are now displaced within South Sudan.
• More than 80,000 people have sought refuge at various UN compounds across the country. In Juba, 80 percent of displaced people are women and children.
• More than 350,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, many of whom had to cross the Nile River on their way to Uganda, leaving everything they had behind and risking their lives.
• A cholera outbreak was confirmed mid May, bringing the imminent threat of a health emergency alongside an escalating food crisis.
• Only 15% of people have access to adequate sanitary latrines and 30% do not have access to safe water supply.

With the end of the “month of tranquillity”, which allowed some people to get back to their fields to plant and harvest the coming crops, there is a real danger that a resumption or intensification of hostilities could make all efforts so far count for nothing. It is estimated nearly 4 million people face emergency and crisis levels of hunger as a result of the situation in South Sudan. As many as 2.4 million people could be displaced by the end of the year.

For further information and to support humanitarian aid please read more on Oxfam.

A sperm whale which washed up on a beach in Spain was found to have swallowed nearly 60 pieces of plastic dumped into the sea by farmers who work in greenhouses which produce vegetables for supermarket chains Aldi and Trader Joe's.

A new petition aims to hold parent company Aldi accountable for the damage caused by its dumping, and has already collected more than half a million signatures.

The 4.5 tonne sperm whale, which washed up dead in March last year, had swallowed 17kg of plastic waste, including more than 20 sections of transparent plastic sheets used to cover industrial greenhouses.

The Guardian reported that scientists found other peculiar objects inside the whale's stomach, including a clothes hanger and parts of a mattress. The plastic had blocked the sperm whale's stomach, killing it slowly.

Grocery suppliers must be held accountable for the damage they do to the sea and its inhabitants, specially the sperm whales, of which there are only about 1000 left in the Mediterranean.

Sign the petition now to demand the safe disposal of plastic waste.