Hungary’s freedom of the press has been under direct fire since Prime Minister Viktor Orban came into power in 2010, from obstructing the press in its pursuit of media pluralism, to hostile surveillance and smear campaigns against journalists, human rights and press freedom advocates said.

President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that allows authorities to seize assets from individuals convicted of “discrediting” or propagating “fake news” about the Russian army.

In a bid to further crack down on critics, Russian authorities unveil potential new measures targeting alleged “foreign agents” who oppose the Moscow regime.

The United Nations Human Rights office denounced on Tuesday the detention of human rights activist Rocío San Miguel, whom Venezuelan authorities have accused of wanting to kill President Nicolas Maduro. The U.N. sees the arrest as part of an ongoing government campaign to silence critics.

The Security Service (SBU) of Ukraine arrested three suspects who were caught red-handed while attempting to extort money from the widow of a fallen soldier.

Colombia's Attorney General's Office reported the arrest of the leader of a transnational criminal group that had been counterfeiting dollar notes. The man is believed to have also coordinated the distribution of the fake money within Colombia, Ecuador, and the United States.

Turkish Cypriot police have arrested three university officials and a senior civil servant as part of a fake diploma and fraud investigation aimed at tackling widespread corruption in the education sector in the Turkish Cypriot northern third of the divided Mediterranean island.

A Bishkek court ordered late on Friday the Public Foundation Kloop Media, which operates Kyrgyzstan’s leading investigative journalism outlet Kloop, to be liquidated for not having a journalism license and for upsetting the population with its reports about corruption in the country.

U.S. authorities arrested 66 of the 70 current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) who have been charged with bribery and extortion this week. This marks one of the largest public corruption busts in the history of the country's Department of Justice (DOJ).

Venezuela deployed 5,000 soldiers to the country’s Amazon region this week to address illegal mining and the exploitation of non-renewable resources. The troops successfully dismantled an illegal mine, eight polluting mining ponds, and six camps used by the criminals.