Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday marking his fifth official visit to France.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has told the BBC that Gaza has become "hell on earth", as Israel's military assault and blockade of aid continues.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday France could recognise a Palestinian state in June.

The Palestinian group Hamas has launched a legal challenge against the United Kingdom’s 2021 decision to designate it as a terrorist organisation, submitting a detailed 106-page application to the Home Secretary calling for the proscription to be overturned.

A complaint against 10 British nationals accusing them of committing war crimes while serving with the Israeli military in Gaza will be submitted to the Metropolitan Police on Monday. 

The junta’s ceasefire declaration came several days after armed resistance groups across the country had already unilaterally paused hostilities to allow for humanitarian operations. The military had initially refused to reciprocate.

More than ninety West Papuan tribes, political organisations, religious and political groups have called for a boycott of products implicated in the Indonesian occupation, in the first major West Papuan boycott campaign ever announced.

China and Russia have reaffirmed their deepening ties during a high-level visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Sources from both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government and the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have stated that the two are aiming to hold direct talks for the first time on 9 April. 

The meeting in Doha would be the first direct negotiations since M23 rebels seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities.

Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed by Israeli forces “one by one” and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said.

The federal entity of Republika Srpska has adopted a draft constitution which includes provisions for the formation of an army and asserts the entities right to self determination.

Nationwide protests erupted as the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had his biggest political rival arrested last Wednesday and jailed today on counts of corruption and links to terrorism.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured the strategic mining hub of Walikale in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

M23 rebels entered Walikale on Wednesday. Spokesperson for the Congolese army, Nestor Mavudisa, confirmed on Thursday that “the enemy” now controlled Walikale. 

Authorities in Cyprus have reported that they have retrieved at least 7 bodies after a boat carrying refugees capsized 30 nautical miles southeast of Cape Greco. 

Two people were rescued on Monday, there is still an unspecified number of people believed to be missing.