UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa stated that the escalating violence in Gaza is exacerbating child suffering.

The US Statement Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert strongly criticised Turkish forces for preventing Kurdish displaced Kurdish residents in Syria’s Afrin region from returning to their homes.

Answering questions on Thursday the US Sate Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert, said,

“We’ve been watching the situation very carefully in Afrin. 140,000 people have been displaced from Afrin and as far as we can tell, they are not being allowed back into their homes.”

The British Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry attended the Palestninian National Council summit in Rammallah this week, to reiterate the Labour party’s support for the state of Palestine.

In a statement posted on facebook, Ms Thornberry said,

The Basque separatist militant group ETA formally announced its disbanding in Spanish papers on Wednesday reports Politico.

The Palestinian Authority and Norway signed an agreement worth $2.71 million to support the Palestinian statistical program of the Palestininan Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) for the period of 2018-2020, reports the International Middle East Media Center.

The agreement will see Norway provide financial and technical assistance to build the capacity of the Palestinian institution responsible for collating and producing statistics about the Palestinian state.

The Dominican Republic in a change in foreign policy cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan to establish exclusive ties with China, reports the BBC.

In a statement made after the decision, the Dominican Republic said it ”recognises that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory.”

Mohammed Jabbateh, a former leader of a rebel faction in Liberia, has been sentenced to 30 years in a US prison after he was found to have lied in his asylum application over his role in committing potential war crimes during the Liberian civil war.

Mr Jabbateh, nicknamed ‘Jungle Jabbah’, has lived in Pennsylvania for the last 20 years. He was found guilty on two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury and sentenced this week.

Thousands of civilians have been forced to flee Myanmar's northern state of Kachin as the army stepped up air strikes and artillery fire against separatist fighters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) this week amid widespread reports of rights violations by government forces. 

The former Bosnian army commander, Atif Dudakovic was detained by police on Friday over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Serb civilians during the conflict between 1992 and 1995. 

Twelve other members of the Bosnian army were also detained along side Mr Dudakovic, who was a popular army commander in the Bihac region, viewed by many Bosniaks as a war hero. 

The President of China welcomed the Prime Minister of India to Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province, for a two-day informal meeting, with both leaders expressing a desire to open a new chapter in bilateral ties between the countries.

The leaders of North Korea and South Korea signed a historic agreement that sought to work for the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and bring an official end to the 6 decade old conflict.

“The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world there will be no more war on the Korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun,” said the two sides.

United Nations investigators have discovered a potential five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo’s Ituri province said a UN peacekeeping mission.

The Ituru province has seen an outbreak of ethnic violence since December causing one of the African continent’s most serious refugee crises.

Kosovo has indicted a former Serbian paramilitary fighter for war crimes committed in 1999.

An international prosecutor from Kosovo's Special Prosecution Office filed the indictment, charging the suspect with pillage, wilful destruction and crimes against personal and human dignity in relation to a two-day attack in the village of Mala Krusa/Krusha e Vogel between March 25 and 27, 1999.

Malaysia’s Election Commission has rejected an application by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to monitor the country’s upcoming general election.

The rejection means that the commission will not be allowed inside polling stations during its monitoring.

“Suhakam cannot comprehend this decision especially as we are informed that there will be international observers during the election,” the commission’s chair Razali Ismail said in a statement on Thursday.