Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have agreed a deal for a national unity government to return to the Gaza Strip, which since 2006 has been run by Hamas.

The International Criminal Court has opened a formal investigation ito “endless” instances of war crimes in the Central African Republic.

The conflict between Muslim rebels and Christian militias has seen thousands killed and raped and over a million people displaced.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said both side had committed atrocities during the turmoil.

Hamas and Fatah have begun talks in Cairo on Wednesday in an attempt to solve disputes and re-form a unity government.

The talks in the Egyptian capital will focus on "the return (of the unity government) in the Gaza Strip and the implementation of its authority without obstacles," said the head of Fatah's delegation, Azzam al-Ahmad according to AFP.

"There is a positive atmosphere in which the talks are being held," senior Hamas official Ezzat al-Rishq told journalists.

The leader of the United Kingdom's Labour Party, Ed Miliband, in a speech on Tuesday explained that he supported overnight action against Islamic State (IS) and supported a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, the leader of the opposition opened his speech by talking about Alan Henning, the British aid worker - a native of nearby Salford - taken hostage by IS.

Mr Miliband said that "one of the biggest problems our world faces" were issues in the Middle East and Israel and Palestine. On the Israel-Palestine conflict Mr Miliband announced that he will "I will fight with every fibre of my being to get the two state solution, two states for two people, Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side."

The US and its Arab allies have launched air strikes against Islamic States targets in Syria. Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the US in the strikes targeting IS militants, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance centre, supply trucks and armed vehicles, according to the US Department of Defense.

China has sentenced Uighur academic Ilham Tohti to life in prison after finding him guilty of separatism.

An Amnesty International report stated that an increasing number of Chinese companies are supplying tools made for torture and fuelling human rights abuses across Africa and Asia.

More than 130 companies were involved in the manufacture and sale of devices such as restraints, electric shock batons and spiked metal batons, with such products being openly marketed.

China is the only country known to manufacture spiked batons, which Amnesty International said were "specifically designed as implements of torture".

Russian lawmakers have approved a preliminary bill to limit the number of media outlets owned by foreigners to 20 percent.

The move could potentially affect dozens of news outlets across Russia, including the country’s leading business daily Vedomosti, which is part owned by the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. Under the bill, the publications would have to change ownership or close by 2017.

Leonid Bershidsky, the founding editor of Vedomosti, condemned the move, saying,

“Foreign ownership was the only thing that protected some Russian media outlets’ editorial integrity… If it’s not allowed, that last bit of protection is gone.”