(NAURU) — Shaped like a peanut and smaller than some big-city airports, this tropical Pacific island has an unusual history. Thanks to rich deposits of a fertilizer ingredient, Nauru’s 11,000 citizens were once among the wealthiest people on earth. But after much of the phosphate was plundered, Nauru squandered its wealth on bad investments, like a 1993 musical about Leonardo da Vinci.

That left the island searching for new sources of income, and in recent years it found an answer by becoming a holding station for hundreds of refugees who tried to reach Australia by boat. Australia designed a policy of keeping boat refugees and asylum seekers far from its shores to deter more of them from trying to make the voyage, but many critics say the policy violates human rights.

The fate of those refugees, including a growing number of children who advocates say are suffering from life-threatening medical conditions, is casting a shadow over the Pacific Islands Forum conference that starts in ..

Two women were publicly caned by a Malaysian Shariah court on Monday for allegedly having sex, a punishment that drew international rebuke as both cruel and indicative of growing concerns about LGBT discrimination in the country.

The two unnamed women, ages 22 and 32, were arrested in April after Islamic enforcement officers spotted them in a car together in northeast Terengganu state, according to Agence France-Presse. Earlier this month, they pleaded guilty to charges of lesbian sex, and were sentenced to six strokes and a RM 3,300 (U.S.$800) fine in a verdict the judge called a lesson for society.

After a week-long delay due to “technical difficulties,” the whippings reportedly occurred Monday in front of over 100 onlookers at the Sharia High Court in the state capital.

Amnesty International called the sentence “a dreadful reminder of the depth of discrimination #LGBTI people face in the country and a sign that the new government condones the use of inhuman and degrading punishme..

U.S. forces have killed the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) branch in Afghanistan, according to a statement posted Sunday by the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.

During an Aug. 25 strike on Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border, U.S. forces said they targeted and killed Abu Saad Orakzai. He is the third leader of the Islamic State–Khorasan group to have been killed by U.S. forces since July 2016, according to the statement.

“America and her allies are in Afghanistan to maintain pressure on the networked, trans-regional terrorists attempting to plot, resource and direct attacks from here,” said U.S. Army Gen.Scott Miller, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. “This is only part of the coalition’s work towards and Afghan security solution, but it is a vital part.” Miller took over the post from Army Gen. John Nicholson on Sunday.

Orakzai, also known as Abu Saad Erhabi, was the emir of the Islamic State–Khorasan, the ISIS affiliate ..