Security officials routinely gang rape women in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) prisons as punishment for their political activities, said UK- based charity, Freedom From Torture.

The report documented testimonies from 34 survivors who were tortured and raped by state actors due to involvement in political and rights organisations.

The Colombian government and rebel FARC group, resumed a second round of peace negotiations whilst calling on the public to support the peace process, reports the Agence France Presse (AFP).

A Palestinian unity government was sworn in today in Ramallah, bringing Fatah and Hamas together. (See here, here and here.)

Over 40 people were killed by a bombing at a football pitch in north-east Nigeria today, reports the Agence France Presse ( AFP.)

A car bomb in eastern Nigeria yesterday killed at least 18 people reported the CNN.

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin, Netanyahu, today , called on the international community to not recognise a Palestinian unity government consisting of former rival factions Hamas and Fatah.

Netanyahu, branding Hamas as a terrorist organisation, said that the unity government would strengthen terror not peace, reports The Guardian.

Telangana will be declared the 29th state of India at midnight on Sunday, after decades of struggle for separation from Andhra Pradesh.

The leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan has hailed the release of 5 Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for a captured US soldier as a “big victory”, reported the BBC, after the swap took place on Saturday.

Mullah Mohammad Omar, the head of the Taliban, issued a rare statement praising the transfer and extending his “heartfelt congratulations to the entire Afghan Muslim nation”.

The United States warned China over "destabilising, unilateral actions" regarding territorial claims in the South China Sea on Saturday, reports Reuters.

Lawmakers from the Basque region in the north of Spain, this week, adopted a declaration of self-determination, reports Reuters.

The Syrian government's use of 'barrel bombs' has killed almost 2,000 people this year, in the opposition-held city of Aleppo alone, stated the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The organisation, based in the UK, went on to add that the death toll included 283 women and 567 people under the age of 18.

Australia placed a travel ban on Junta leaders responsible for the recent coup and pledged to cut defence co-operation with Thailand today, reports The Guardian.

At least two people died in a clash between protesters and African Union peacekeepers from the Burundian military during a second day of demonstrations against an attack on a Church in the capital of the Central African Republic, reports

Two Rwandan government officials are to face charges over the alleged roles in the 1994 genocide in France, reported Radio France Internationale on Saturday.

The genocide trial would be only France's second over the genocide in Rwanda, after 54-year-old Pascal Simbikangwa was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment over his involvement, by a French court earlier this year.