European Union sanctions will continue to be placed on Russia due to failures in observing the ceasefire between Ukrainian troops and Russia backed rebels, the German Chancellor told reporters on Friday.

“When you’ve had more than 200 people killed you cannot say the cease-fire has been accepted,” said Angela Merkel.

Claims made by Iraqi doctors and police officers that Islamic State militants are using chemical weapons are being investigated by US officials reports the Telegraph.

Rwandan parliament passed a resolution calling on its government to ban a BBC documentary on Rwanda and charge the producers with genocide denial, on Friday.

The BBC has denied that any part of the programme constitutes to “a denial of the genocide against the Tutsis.”

The documentary, “Rwanda's Untold Story”, contained allegations that Kagame and his then RPF armed organisation had shot down the Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana, sparking the genocide which killed some 800,000 people.

Rwanda's president, earlier this month accused the documentary of "further emboldened the génocidaires, all their supporters and those who collaborate with them."

Islamist militant group Boko Haram has reportedly abducted at least 25 girls in an attack on villages in north-eastern Nigeria.

Four Blackwater Worldwide guards have been found guilty of the murder of 14 unarmed Iraqis in 2007 by a US federal jury in Washington this week.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has announced that a commission is to be set up that will investigate attacks on UN facilities in Gaza, during Israel's offensive this summer.

Speaking to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Ban said the inquiry will investigate the attacks on the facilities, as well as reports that Hamas militants were storing weapons in the buildings.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report this week, accusing the Ukrainian military of using banned cluster munitions as they battle against pro-Russia separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

HRW said it had evidence of “widespread use of cluster munitions,” adding that, “while it was not possible to conclusively determine responsibility for many of the attacks, the evidence points to Ukrainian government forces’ responsibility for several cluster munition attacks on Donetsk”.

"It is shocking to see a weapon that most countries have banned used so extensively in eastern Ukraine," said Mark Hiznay, a senior arms researcher at HRW.

However, Ukraine’s "anti-terrorist operation" spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov dismissed the report as “utter nonsense”, saying "we do not use banned weapons… Neither do we shell civilian neighbourhoods because this endangers lives."

Anti-government protests in Pakistan’s capital ended on Wednesday, with protesters vowing to continue their campaign calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.      

Tahir ul-Qadri, who led the protests with former cricket player turned politician, Imran Kahn, called an end to the mass sit-in protests.

“This sit-in has achieved its purpose, it has awakened the nation and played its role in the path of evolution," said Qadri.

The protesters staged a 65 day sit-in whilst facing several clashes with Pakistani police leaving three dead and hundreds injured.

The Pakistan Media Regulation Authority on Tuesday said that it would have to shut down a private news channel, ARY News Chennel, and ban one of its anchors from appearing on Pakistani national TV, reports the Associated Press.