Poland’s foreign ministry has summoned the United States' ambassador in Warsaw demanded an apology, after the head of the FBI suggested that Poles bore some responsibility for the Holocaust.

FBI director James Comey suggested in a Washington Post article that some Poles were accomplices to the murders of World War Two, stating that,

“In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t do something evil. They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do.”

“That’s what people do,” continued Mr Comey. “And that should truly frighten us.”

His comments angered Poland with Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz saying it was “unacceptable”.

“To those who are incapable of presenting the historic truth in an honest way, I want to say that Poland was not a perpetrator but a victim of world war two,” Ms Kopacz said. “I would expect full historical knowledge from officials who speak on the matter.”

As many as 700 migrants are feared to have died as the vessel they were travelling in sank off the Libyan coast on Sunday.

Italy’s interior ministry reported that only 28 survivors have been rescued, in one of the worst maritime disasters of its kind in the Mediterranean.  The vessel, which was reportedly carrying up to 900 migrants attempting to reach Europe, sank after the refugees on board attempted to catch the attention of a Portuguese merchant ship to rescue them. 

“They wanted to be rescued,” said Barbara Molinario, a spokeswoman for UNHCR. “They saw another ship. They were trying to make themselves known to it,” she added.

The disaster means that some 1,500 migrants have died so far in the Mediterranean in 2015 alone – a figure 30 times higher than in 2014. As many as 400 people drowned to death in a similar incident last week.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called people smuggling "a plague in our continent" and called for concerted European Union action to tackle the problem, whilst Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat accused “gangs of criminals” of being behind the rise in refugees attempting to reach Europe.

"Gangs of criminals are putting people on a boat, sometimes even at gunpoint… They're putting them on the road to death, really, and nothing else," said Mr Muscat.

He told CNN that it was "genocide - nothing less than genocide, really".

The Egyptian justice system was deemed ‘politicised’ after evidence used against 51 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters was criticised by Human Rights Watch as in sufficient in a statement released on Sunday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called on the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes in the east of the country controlled by pro-Russian separatists and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last year.

The ICC is already investigating reports of crimes committed in Ukraine from November 2013 to February 2014, after the Ukrainian government granted permission to the court. Mr Klimkin’s call for broadening the investigation though, could see reports of Russian involvement in the fighting officially investigated for the first time.

Speaking to Reuters before meeting the court's president and prosecutor on Friday, Mr Klimkin said an ICC referral would cover "everything under the (ICC) mandate, including crimes against humanity”.

The Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for an explosion at the Kabul Bank branch that has killed at least 35 people on Saturday.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, stating “this nation does not bow to threats and dangers.” “We will fight them to the end,” he added.

Shahidullah Shahid, a former Taliban leader that joined IS claimed responsibility for the attack, identifying the suicide bomber as Abu Muhammed Khurasani. IS affiliated Twitter accounts later tweeted photographs of the attacker.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, passed on his “condolences on this tragic incident,” saying, “Terrorism is a common enemy of both the countries which are now taking joint steps to eradicate this menace.”

The top United Nations official in Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom, said the bombing “may amount to a war crime,” adding that “those responsible for this horrendous crime must be held accountable.”

The Russian government has condemned the presence of US military trainers in Ukraine, as hundreds of US paratroopers arrived to train the Ukrainian military as they battle against pro-Russian separatists.

"Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade have been arriving over the last week," a US army spokesman Donald Wrenn told AFP. "We will have about 300 soldiers from the brigade on the ground providing the training that will last over the next six months."

United Nations Security Council envoys were reportedly in tears after viewing footage of a chlorine gas attack in Syria from earlier this year, as they pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said the UN Security Council meeting was "extremely unusual and very emotional," adding, "If there was a dry eye in the room I didn't see it."

"Those people responsible for these attacks have to be held accountable," Ms Power told reporters after the meeting.

“We need an attribution mechanism so we know precisely who carried out these attacks… only the Assad regime has helicopters,” she added, noting the bombs were dropped from aircraft.

The footage showed the aftermath of the attack on the city of Idlib earlier this year. Syrian doctors are seen trying unsuccessfully resuscitate 3 young children.

“But we need to move forward in a manner that also makes it very clear to all council members that those people responsible for those attacks are held accountable,” continued Ms Powers.

"The long arm of justice is taking more time than any of us would wish right now, but this documentary record will be used at some point in a court of law".