Nigeria’s army announced it has recaptured the town of Gwoza, thought to be the headquarters of Boko Haram.

The group have suffered a serious of setbacks in recent months and have lost a large amount of the territory it held since Nigeria's neighbours, Cameroon, Chad and Niger sent troops to help it earlier this year.

"These successful operations have culminated in the dislodgment of terrorists from towns and communities in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states," military spokesperson Chris Olukolade said.

Seven former policemen in Chad have been sentenced to life imprisonment for torture, in the first trial of former president Hissene Habre's accomplices.

Under Mr Habre's rule from 1982 to 1990 thousands of people are thought to have been killed and tortured. He is currently being held in Senegal awaiting a war crimes trial.

The Saudi air force has led air attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen, as Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi left the country and arrived in Riyadh.

Iran has described the air strikes as "dangerous", while Saudi Arabia said it was "defending the legitimate government" of President Hadi.

Reports say at least 13 civilians died in air strikes in the capital Sanaa.

On Wednesday, the Saudi ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubair, announced the beginning of the air strikes.

Human Rights Watch launched a new website, ‘Votes Count’ to monitor and make available countries’ voting records on issues concerning international human rights violations.

The website looks at the voting record of countries in the Human Rights Council (those that have been members since 2012) and also provides an analysis of their contribution to addressing human rights violations on the ground and in particular countries.

Julie de Rivero, the Geneva director at Human Right Watch said in a press release announcing the project,

A US led coalition of warplanes launched their first airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq, in collaboration with Iraqi forces working with Iran backed militia on the ground, reports Reuters.

The decision to support the campaign to take Tikrit back forms the biggest collaboration between Iraqi forces, militia and the US in the fight against Islamic state militants to date.

US President Barack Obama reiterated his support for a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, where he criticised comments made by the newly re-elected Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, Mr Obama said,

The foreign minister of Yemen Riad Yassin called on Gulf Arab states to intervene in the halting the Houthi rebel offensive.

The call comes a day after President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who was ousted from the capital Sanaa last month, pleaded for UN intervention as the Houthi forces captured the strategic town of Taiz.

The foreign minister told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper he asked the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to intervene, without detailing what that would mean.