The United Nations humanitarian official in the Central African Republic (CAR) condemned a surge in violence against aid workers, that saw a member of a UN food convoy killed.

The UN coordinator Marc Vandenberghe, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said,

US president Barack Obama told Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani that the US would support its peace process with the Taliban, confirmed the White House on Wednesday.

South Sudanese forces are accused of having committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, killing and raping civilians during its offensive against rebels in Unity state, Human Rights Watch said in its latest report on the country.

The New York-based rights organisation said the army and allied militants from the Bul Nuer ethnic group forcibly displaced tens of thousands of people in Unity by attacking women, elderly, and children, while burning villages and stealing cattle.

South Sudan's government said any alleged rights violations were limited to "a few individuals" who will face justice in domestic courts. But Skye Wheeler, a researcher with Human Rights Watch told The Associated Press the attacks were "far more widespread and systematic to be blamed on a few rotten apples."

The report, “They Burned it All: Destruction of Villages, Killings, and Sexual Violence in South Sudan’s Unity State,” is based on more than170 interviews in June and July with survivors and witnesses, and documents the killing of 60 people, including some by hanging or burning, and 63 rapes.

The north-east of Nigeria, long plagued by conflict between the government and Boko Haram militants, will receive $2bn in aid from the World Bank, according to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking in Washington, after talks with officials from the World Bank, Buhari said priority ust be given to rebuilding infrastructure and helping those displaced by the conflict.

A ship carrying humanitarian and food aid to Yemen reached the port of Aden on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

The ship contained UN food aid to feed approximately 180,000 people for a month and had been anchored off the coast of Aden since June 26 said

Brics countries launched a new bank on Tuesday, called the New Development Bank (NDB).

The countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, launched the bank in Shanghai and said it will lend money to developing countries to help finance infrastructure projects.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that agreed on sanctions relief for Iran provide the terms of its nuclear agreement with world powers were implemented.

The Cuban flag flies in Washington DC officially for the first time in over 50 years, as the two nations restored diplomatic ties, with the opening of their respective embassies.

A ceremony in the US capital, attended by the Cuban Foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez, saw over 500 people cheer, as the flag was raised, including by chanting former Cuban leader Fidel Castro's name.

The former leader of Chad has been placed on trial in Senegal for crimes against humanity.

Hissene Habre, who led Chad between 1982 and 1990, will be tried by the Senegalese courts of  Extraordinary African Chambers. The court was established by the African Union to hear the specific case.

The trials are the first time a case under universal jurisdiction has taken place in Africa.

A Colombian army officer who was detained by the FARC militants was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, on Sunday.

Colombia’s president Juan Manual Santos confirmed that the FARC militants had handed over the soldier.

Britain’s premier David Cameron pledged to increase support in the fight against Islamic State militants by looking to gain parliamentary approval to join US led airstrikes.

Speaking to US TV broadcasters, NBC, Mr Cameron said,

The leader of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, held rare talks with Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, the firsttime in four years the Saudi monarchy acknowledged talks with the Palestinian group.

Mr Meshaal, who was on pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, "praised the positive stance of the kingdom's leadership towards the Palestinian cause", Saudi Arabia's SPA state news agency reported.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country's policy towards the US, Syria and other countries will not change, despite the nuclear deal signed earlier this week.

During a speech in Tehran, marking the Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, the ayatollah said Iran still had sharp differences with the US, especially over the Middle East, and pledged continue to back Syria, Iraq, the Palestinians and "oppressed people" in Yemen and Bahrain, he said.

"Whether the [nuclear] deal is approved or disapproved, we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon," Ayatollah Khamenei said. "Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant US will not change."