The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to raise the Palestinian flag at the body's headquarters in New York.

A resolution was passed with 119 votes in favour, 45 abstentions and 8 votes against.

The text of the resolution allows the flags of Palestine and the Holy See - both of which have non-member observer status - to be raised alongside those of the member states.

"It is a symbolic thing, but another step to solidify the pillars of the state of Palestine in the international arena," said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN, ahead of the vote.

Mr Mansour further said the initiative had the potential to "give our people some hope that the international community is still supporting the independence of the state of Palestine.

Northern Irish First Minister Peter Robinson has stepped down from his position after a bid by his party, the DUP, to adjourn the assembly, failed.

The DUP failed to get enough support to adjourn the assembly, after Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionists and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) voted against the adjournment motion.

The Ukrainian government has given the International Criminal Court wider jurisdiction to investigate war crimes that may have been committed during the current civil conflict in the country.

The country previously accepted the court's jurisdiction for a limited period from November 2013 to February 2014, when pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich attempted to crush opposition protests, with many people dying.

The ICC said Ukraine had now expanded its scope to include the period up to the present, with ongoing violence between the government and separatist rebels in the east of the country.

The United Nations Human Rights Office said on Tuesday at least 7,962 people have been killed and 17,811 wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April 2014, Reuters reported.

The United Nations children’s agency warned that almost 100,000 children are starving in Yemen and face death, as fighting in the country continued.

Al Jazeera reported the agency as saying 96,000 children were starving in the city of al-Hodeidah and nearly 8,000 children will face malnutrition in Aden in the coming year.

“Before the crisis it had a catchment population of about 300,000; but since the crisis that number has risen to almost three million, with the entire (population) reliant on it for specialist care.”

Turkey has sent groundtroops into Iraqi Kurdistan to fight PKK rebels, who have bases in the region.

"Turkish security forces crossed the Iraqi border as part of the hot pursuit of PKK terrorists who were involved in the most recent attacks," a government source told AFP news agency.

"This is a short-term measure intended to prevent the terrorists' escape."

A UN backed tribunal began in Cambodia on Monday trying the two surviving leaders of Khmer Rouge regime of the crime of genocide.

Last year both Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but Monday’s trial will see them face charges of genocide. The trial will examine crimes carried out against ethnic Cham Muslims and ethnic Vietnamese during the Khmer Rouge’s 1975-79 rule.

The prosecution stated that 90 percent of the 200,000 ethnic Vietnamese population in the country were forcibly deported by the regime, and the remaining 20,000 were killed in a process that "involved mass killings of Vietnamese civilians who were sought out solely on the basis of their ethnicity."

The prosecution also alleged the Khmer Rouge "succeeded in physically destroying a significant portion of the Cham population, solely because of their ethnic and religious background."

This effort included removing Cham women and children from the group and placing them in Khmer communities, forcing Cham to marry outside their ethnic group, and banning all cultural aspects traditionally identified with that group," it said, adding the campaign "culminated in 1977 and 1978 with organized mass executions of entire Cham communities conducted by [Khmer Rouge] cadres in multiple [areas of Cambodia]".

The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Peter Robinson, says there will be no meetings of the Northern Ireland Executive unless in “exceptional circumstances”, as the crisis Stormont was plunged into after the killing of a former IRA member, escalates.

Mr Robinson, who is also First Minister of the assembly, said the DUP's ministers would focus on talks to try to resolve the crisis that are due to begin on Tuesday.

Police have said they believe members of the Irish Republican Army were involved in the murder of Kevin McGuigan Snr, however added there was no evidence at this stage to suggest the shooting was sanctioned by the organisation.

Republican party Sinn Féin rejected the police’s accusation and said the IRA had "gone" and was not "coming back".

Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre was forcibly brought into court and held down by masked security officers at the resumption of his trial in Senegal for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Two British men were killed after being targeted in a drone strike, carried out by the Royal Air Force.

Reyaad Khan, 21, from Cardiff and Ruhul Amin from Aberdeen were both members of the Islamic State militant group and were hit on August 21 in an “act of self-defence” according to British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Cameron accused Mr Khan of plotting “barbaric” attacks and said the drone strike was lawful and necessary.

The prime minister added the targeting of the men was approved by the attorney general.

In his statement to the Commons, Mr Cameron said: "My first duty as prime minister is to keep the British people safe.

"There was a terrorist directing murder on our streets and no other means to stop him.

"This government does not for one moment take these decisions lightly.

"But I am not prepared to stand here in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on our streets and have to explain to the House why I did not take the chance to prevent it when I could have done."

However Labour leader Harriet Harman questioned the legality of the attack and called for “independent scrutiny”.

Several Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack by Kurdish militants in Hakkari in the southeast of the country.

The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack and said 15 soldiers died.

Turkish media said bombs were detonated as two military vehicles were passing in the village of Daglica.