Award winning US journalist Anna Therese Day and 3 members of her camera crew have been detained in Bahrain confirmed Reporters Without Borders on Monday.

The group called on Bahrain to release the four American citizens without harm.

Bahraini police, who detained the journalists on Sunday, said that they had detained four foreign nationals “suspected of offences including entering Bahrain illegally having submitted false information to border staff, and participating in an unlawful gathering.”

On Friday, a top French official announced that up to 1000 refugees living in the make-shift camp in Calais would be evicted. The camp, unofficially referred to as the “jungle”, is estimated to currently contain around 4000 asylum-seekers.
 
Fabienne Bucio, Prefect of the regional French police prefecture, made the announcement telling Reuters, "I hope we don't have to make an eviction by force” but that “the conditions are there for us to do that and flatten part of the camp that gives Calais a bad image."
 

US President Barack Obama called on Russia to stop airstrikes on ‘moderate’ Syrian militants in a telephone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The conversation came after major powers, including Russia, agreed to a limited cessation of hostilities in Syria on Friday.

The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin had spoken to Obama by telephone and agreed to intensify cooperation to implement the Munich agreement, whilst reiterating its commitment to its campaign against Islamic State and ‘other terrorist organisations,’ reports Reuters.

 Turkey’s military shelled Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria and demanded that the group withdraw from the area, reports Reuters.

The US State Department spokesperson John Kirby urged both Turkey and the Syrian Kurds to step back, saying they should focus instead on tackling a ‘common threat’ of Islamic State militants who control large parts of Syria.
 
“We have urged Syrian Kurdish and other forces affiliated with YPG not to take advantage of a confused situation by seizing new territory.”

Saudi Arabia warned the United Nations and international aid organisations to protect their staff by removing them from areas controlled by the Houthi militants, reports Reuters.

A note circulated amongst embassies and the UN said that the request was to “protect the international organisations and their employees.”

Saudi Arabia has been leading coalition airstrikes against the Houthi militants for almost a year.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food and aid if Syrian government forces circle rebel-held territories in Aleppo warned the United Nations on Tuesday.

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, launched a heavy offensive around Aleppo, which resulted in UN sponsored peace-talks being temporarily abandoned.

The United Nations office for the Coordination of humanitarian Affairs said,

China’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret that North Korea had launched a rocket in to space despite strong opposition from the international community.

In a statement released on Sunday, the ministry spokeswoman Hua Cunying said,

“China expresses regret that North Korea, in spite of the pervasive opposition of the international community, insisted on using ballistic missile technology to carry out a launch.”

The condemnation came as  the UN Security Council looks to hold an emergency meeting on the issue, reports Reuters.

The European parliament this week recognised the crimes committed by Islamic STate against Christians and other religious minorities as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a resolution, passed unanimously, the European Parliament called for the UN Security Council to refer the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and for the crimes to be recognised by the them as a genocide.

Extract reproduced below:

The North Korean government has fired a long range rocket, claiming that it was putting an earth observation satellite into orbit.

However, it is thought that the rocket was a test of banned missile technology, part of efforts to develop nuclear weapons technology.

The US and Japan condemned the launch and have requested, alongside South Korea, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

The US has released nearly 200 photographs linked to abuse by its military, after a freedom of information request.

Images published include bruises and cuts on prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, however the Pentagon said none of the pictures were of detainees held in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the photos had "come from independent criminal investigations into allegations of misconduct by US personnel".