The Iraqi government has approved a deal with Australia, which will see 200 members of Australian special forces train Iraqi troops to fight against Islamic State.

Legal protection for the troops demanded by Australia caused a row between the countries and delayed the signing of the agreement, with the troops waiting in the UAE for over a month.

Taliban fighters have launched deadly attacks on troops and villages in Afghanistan.

Around 500 militants launched attacks on two villages in Ghor, a province in the centre of Afghanistan. A local official told the BBC that details about casualty figures are not yet known.

At least 4 Afghan soldiers were killed when militants attacked security posts in Logar province in the east of the country.

Last week the Taliban launched attacks in the north of the country, killing at least 22 members of the Afghan security forces.

Fire was exchanged across the border between North and South Korea on Sunday, the second time skirmishes erupted in the past 10 days.

Reports indicate that North Korean troops approached the border in response to a leafleting campaign by the South, after which southern troops opened fire.

The first border clash on October 10, came after North Korean soldiers fired at balloons released from across the border, carrying leaflets critical of Kim Jong-un.

The Indonesian government should dismiss charges against two French journalists in the eastern regions of Papua and end restrictions on foreign media in the region, said Human Rights Watch on Thursday.

The journalists, Valentine Bourrat and Thomas Dandois, who were arrested whilst producing a documentary, are set to face trial on 20 October on charges of “abusive use of entry visas.”

Iraqi pilots who joined Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria are training members of the group to fly three captured fighter jets, reports Reuters.

The militants have been flying planes over the captured al-Jarrah military airport east of Aleppo said the director of the Britain based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,” said Rami Abdulrahman.

A second massacre in as many days on the Democratic Republic of Congo, has left at least 20 people dead, taking the toll to over 46.

Both massacres took place near the town of Beni, on the Ugandan border. Most of the victims were women and children, who were killed with guns, machetes and axes.

Beni's mayor accused Ugandan militant group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), of the massacres.

Clashes have erupted at the site occupied by protestors in the Hong Kong district of Mong Kok.

According to reports, police moved in after some protestors had breached their barriers, resulting in the clashes.

The protestors say the police charge was unprovoked.

Pro-democracy activists, many of them students and youths, have been out on the street in Hong Kong for over a month, calling for democratic reforms. They oppose the Chinese government's control over the candidates for the city's chief executive, demanding that the candidacy should be opened up to all.

Several people have been killed in two attacks by Nigerian militants just a day after the government announced a ceasefire with Boko Haram militants to enable the release of 200 abducted girls reports Reuters.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks and the government is doubtful of whether Boko Haram are responsible for the attacks or whether they are the works of several other criminal groups exploiting the instability in the region.

The trial of two Khmer Rouge leaders, accused of committing genocide began on Friday, at the UN backed court in Cambodia.

Nuon Chea, known as Brother Number Two and the former head of state Khleu Samphan were sentenced to life in prison in August by the court, after being found guilty of crimes against humanity. Both men are in their 80s.

The men have been accused of committing a genocide against Muslim and ethnic Vietnamese people in Cambodia between 1975-1979. The trial is expected to continue until 2016 or 2017.