A former senior Bosnian Serb military officer has had his life sentence for genocide upheld at an international war crimes court last week.

Zdravko Tolimir, head of Bosnian Serb military intelligence, had most of his 26 grounds for appeal dismissed by Judge Theodor Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Though Mr Tolimir had convictions relating to the forcible transfer of Muslims from Žepa, a town near Srebrenica and other smaller scale massacres dropped, others relating to his role in the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica were upheld. The sentence remained unchanged.

“In light of these genocide convictions alone, the appeals chamber considers that Tolimir’s responsibility does not warrant a revision of his sentence,” said Mr Meron.

The Dutch parliament passed a resolution this week recognising the mass killings of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire during World War One as genocide.

The resolution, tabled by Dutch Member of Parliament Joel Voordewind, was supported by a wide range of parties, stated Greek Reporter.

“This is an important signal from the Dutch Parliament to the Turkish government to acknowledge its past actions,” said Mr Voordewind. “I hope in the end this will bring both countries to a better understanding and reconciliation with each other.”

The UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 5 children were killed by Syrian government airstrikes that hit a school in rebel held areas in Aleppo on Sunday.

The Observatory, which tracks the war using a network of sources on the ground, said the death toll from the strike on Jamal al Qabani School would most probably increase, reports Reuters.

The leader of the Muslim Broherhood in Egypt has been sentenced to death, along with 13 others.

A court in Cairo said Mohammed Badie and the other members of the Muslim Brotherhood were guilty of planning attacks against the state and confirmed the death sentence.

US-Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soltan was sentenced to life imprisonment for supporting the organisation, which is proscribed in Egypt, and for "transmitting false news.

Local militia allied with Yemen’s government said they captured two Iranian officers advising Houthi rebels on Friday reports Reuters.

Sources on the ground told Reuters that an Iranian colonel and captain were captured in two separate districts that have seen heavy advances by Houthi militants.

The Reuters bureau chief for Baghdad left Iraq after he was threatened on Facebook and Shi’ite satellite television after reporting on lynching and looting in Tikrit.

Ned Parker received death threats and had his picture published on a Satellite television show calling for the expulsion of the Reuters journalist.

The calls came after Mr Parker and two colleagues detailed human rights abuses committed by the government on Islamic State militants, after recapturing the region of Tikrit.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation has rejected requesting the Syrian military to launch military action against Islamic State in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus.

A statement on Thursday said the PLO refused to be drawn into the “hellish conflict” in Syria.

"We refuse to be drawn into any armed campaign, whatever its nature or cover, and we call for resorting to other means to spare the blood of our people and prevent more destruction and displacement for our people of the camp," it said.

Palestinian militant group Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis has been coordinating with Syrian rebel forces in their fight against IS and the Syrian government.

The United Nations said it is extremely concerned about the safety of Palestinians and Syrians inside the camp.

"In the horror that is Syria, the Yarmouk refugee camp is the deepest circle of hell," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday.

"A refugee camp is beginning to resemble a death camp. The residents of Yarmouk - including 3,500 children - are being turned into human shields."

A Palestinian was killed and several others wounded by Israeli military after a Palestinian militants funeral turned violent after stones were thrown at Israeli soldiers, reports Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army said that soldiers opened fire at the funeral in fear of their lives after protesters threw rocks and rolled burning car tyres at them, adding that first non-lethal means were used before resorting to shooting live ammunition.

The United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held closed door talks in what were the highest level talks between the two nations in over 50 years.

Closed door discussion were held after the arrival of the two statesmen in Panama, who are there to attend the 2 day Summit of the Americas, reports the BBC.

A senior US official, told press,

A Spanish judge has ruled 7 Moroccan officials accused of orchestrating killings in Western Sahara from 1975-1991, should be arrested and extradited to Spain to face charges of genocide.

Judge Pablo Ruz ruled this week that some of the victims in Western Sahara had Spanish identity cards, since they had lived in the area when it was a Spanish colony. Some of the accused include members of the current government.