Cuba has freed some of the 53 people political prisoners that it agreed to release to the US, said the State Department on Tuesday.

“They have already released some of the prisoners, we would like to see this completed in the near future, said the State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.

Psaki further noted that the release of the 53 prisoners, were not a pre-condition for holding talks and further normalising relations between the US and Cuba, which are scheduled to take place later this month, reports Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel "will not let Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and officers be dragged to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague."

The comments come in response to the Palestinian move to join the ICC, which Netanyahu said signified the Palestinian Authority's choosing "to take a path of confrontation with Israel."

Palestine formally submitted its application to join the International Criminal Court on Friday, a move which has been condemned by the United States and Israel.

Submitting the application, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told reporters “this is a very significant step.”

“It is an option that we are seeking in order to seek justice for all the victims that have been killed by Israel, the occupying power… It is a legal option, it is a peaceful option, it is a civilised option and it is an option that anyone who upholds the law should not be afraid of."

Mansour went on to say that Palestinians are “not afraid of the judgement of the law, especially international law.”

A senior State Department official told Reuters that the United States was "deeply troubled by Palestinian action regarding the ICC."

Villagers have blamed Boko Haram for the kidnapping of 40 boys and young men in north-eastern Nigeria on New Year’s Eve.

News of the kidnapping only emerged late on Friday after residents of Malari village in Borno state arrived in the state capital of Maiduguri, having fled the isolated region.

One villager told AFP,

The United Nations, on Friday, called for “all necessary measures” to be taken to disarm militants of the Democratic Forces of Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

In a press release today, the UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Said Djinnit and Secretary General’s Special Representative in DR, Martin Kobler, noted that the FDLR had failed to meet the disarmament deadline.