US President Barack Obama has begun his visit to Cuba, becoming the first American president to do so in 88 years.

After meeting with the government and holding bilateral discussions, the President will meet with Cuban civil society, including human rights activists.

On human rights, the White House had previously written:

The UN Security Council has unanimously condemned the "unacceptable" ballistic missile launches by North Korea.

In a statement, the Security Council said the latest firings "constituted a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions".

A suicide bomb in Istanbul has killed at least four people, in the latest violence in Turkey's largest city.

According to Turkish media, the attack in a shopping district killed three Israelis and one Iranian citizen.

Following the United States’ declaration that the Islamic State is committing genocide in Iraq and Syria, the New York Times said the evidence against the militant group was “indisputable”.

“Since the Holocaust, the United States has designated wide-scale killing as genocide only four times: Cambodia in 1989, Bosnia in 1993, Rwanda in 1994 and Sudan in 2004,” said the New York Times in an editorial.

“To those it has now added the Islamic State’s rampage in Iraq and Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Thursday.”

Noting that “the term genocide, first specified in the 1948 United Nations Convention, refers to “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”,” the paper said “the evidence against the Islamic State is indisputable”.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Islamic State (IS) has been committing genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims in Syria and Iraq on Thursday.

In a televised address Mr Kerry said the militant group “is genocidal by self proclamation, by ideology and by actions”.

"The fact is Daesh kills Christians because they are Christians, Yazidis because they are Yazidis, Shias because they are Shias," he said, adding that "we will all we can to see that the perpetrators are held accountable."

Though State Department spokesman Mark Toner had already stated the usage of the term ‘genocide’ "would not necessarily result in any particular legal obligation for the United States," the move represents a significant moment nonetheless.

Mr Kerry’s declaration marks only the second time the executive branch of the US has used the term ‘genocide’ to describe atrocities committed during an ongoing conflict.

The US military has punished over a dozen of its personnel over the attack on an MSF-run hospital in Kunduz last year.

An air strike killed 42 people in the hospital and the Pentagon acknowledged that it was a mistake. However no troops will face criminal charges.

Some of the personnel will be suspended while others will receive formal reprimands.

Myanmar's National League for Democracy has named two candidates for the forthcoming presidential election. A third candidate will be nominated by the military.

NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not allowed to stand in the election under the country's military constitution. However as her party is in control of parliament, a NLD candidate is almost guaranteed a win.

The US government has called on the Taliban to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government and become part of the political system, after the group backed out of planned negotiations, saying they rejected the process.

Turkey's biggest selling newspaper is expected to be charged with terrorism offences, reports The Times, following a raid on its offices on Friday.

Speaking to The Times, Zaman's chief columnist Bulent Kenes said he expects to be detained under terrorism offences “in the coming days”. “It is a matter of when, not if,” he said.

His comments come following the Turkish government ordering armed police to raid the offices of Zaman on Friday. “We are going through the darkest and gloomiest days in terms of freedom of the press, which is a major benchmark for democracy and rule of law,” read a statement in Zaman's English-language sister paper. “Intellectuals, businesspeople, celebrities, civil society organisations, media organisations and journalists are being silenced via threats and blackmail.”

Though members of the European Union reportedly raised the issue on both public and private, the Kurdish leader of the HDP criticised Western countries for not speaking up on the issue and on the Turkish war on Kurds in the southeast, for fear of jeopardising a hotly debated agreement on refugees.