Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 12 September 2014

New EU economic sanctions on Russia have come into effect today, seeking to pressure Moscow over its involvement in eastern Ukraine. The ceasefire this week has been shaky but has allowed some residents to re-emerge and examine the damage. Also, Kiev authorities have been criticized for raiding a newsroom and barring entry to Russian reporters. As US President Barack Obama's televised address set out his strategy for tackling the rise of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, news continues to emerge of the militant group's atrocities. With the UN finally about to launch its much-needed peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic, the violence there is continuing.

In China, anti-corruption activists Guo Feixiong and Sun Desheng had been scheduled to go on trial today on charges related to their support for journalists protesting censorship at the Southern Weekly newspaper last year. However, the trial has apparently been postponed after lawyers boycotted the hearing.

In a joint letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, human rights groups and activists have requested his personal attendance at the UN General Assembly side event on North Korea. Early this year, the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea presented new report on abuses by the North Korean government, including extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, and forced starvation.  Pakistan is going to hang a death row prisoner on 18 September, following years of informal moratorium on capital punishment.