China has rejected Taiwan's application to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a Chinese-led development bank, with over 30 international members, with a similar remit as the World Bank.

The Chinese government said it will not allow Taiwan to join under its current name, but that it would be welcome in the future under a different name.

Russia has lifted its ban on the sale of the S-300 air defence missile system, which would enhance Tehran's capability to defend itself from air strikes.

Russia' president Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead for the sale, after it was suspended in 2010 when the UN imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

The leaders of Islamic State (IS) are unlikely to face war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC), chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.

At least 14 people have been killed in two bomb attacks in the Sinai peninsula, according to Egyptian security forces.

A roadside bomb targeting an armoured vehicle killed at least 6 Egyptian soldiers in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, whilst as many as 8 people were killed in a bomb reportedly targeting a police station in El-Arish.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) are to jointly launch a search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean to help migrants who risk their lives to flee conflicts and reach Europe.

Using the ship MY Phoenix from May to October, the service will attempt to rescue some of the thousands who are predicted to attempt to cross the Mediterranean by boat. An estimated 3,400 people have died so far this year attempting to reach Europe.

Arjan Hehenkamp, MSF's general director, told the BBC the situation was "dire", especially since the Italian navy's search and rescue mission, Mare Nostrum, ended last November.

“Europe has turned its back on people fleeing some of the worst humanitarian crises of our time,” continued Mr Hehenkamp. “The decision to close doors and build fences means that men, women and children are forced to risk their lives and take a desperate journey across the sea. Ignoring this situation will not make it go away. Europe has both the resources and the responsibility to prevent more deaths on its doorstep and must act in order to do so.”

 

Obama and Castro at the summit (Reuters)

US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro today met on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, the first such meeting between the leaders of the two countries since 1959.

"[Obviously] there are still going to be deep and significant differences between our two governments," Mr Obama said, even as he welcomed "the spirit of openness and courtesy" Mr Castro had shown during their meeting.

"What we have both concluded is that we can disagree with a spirit of respect and civility," he said. "Over time, it is possible for us to turn the page and develop a new relationship between our two countries."

The president said the US will not ignore rights issues on the island.

"We will continue to try to lift up concerns around democracy and human rights," he said.

"[Some] of our immediate tasks include normalizing diplomatic relations and ultimately opening an embassy in Havana, and Cuba being able to open an embassy in Washington, D.C. so that our diplomats are able to interact on a more regular basis," the US president added.

Raul Castro, the brother of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, said patience was needed but that Cuba was ready to talk about sensitive topics.

The Turkish government has summoned the Vatican envoy in Ankara after Pope Francis described the mass killings perpetrated by Ottomans against Armenians during World War One as a genocide.

At a mass conducted in the Armenian Catholic rite at Peter's Basilica, the pope said humanity had lived through "three massive and unprecedented tragedies" in the last century.

"The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th Century', struck your own Armenian people," he said.

Bangladesh executed the leader of the Islamist opposition Muhammad Kamaruzzaman in Dhaka on Saturday, after finding him guilty on charges on war crimes and genocide.

Mr Kamaruzzaman, the 63 year old assistant secretary general of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, lost his final appeal against the sentence, which was handed down last year for crimes committed during the Bangladeshi 1971 war of independence, earlier this month.

The country is now bracing for a wave of protests by supporters of Mr Kamaruzzaman, the second man to be executed as part of the Bangladeshi government war crime trials.

However concern has been raised regarding the standard of the trials being conducted, with a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights official saying, “given serious concerns about the fairness of trials conducted before the tribunal, the government of Bangladesh should not implement death penalty sentences.”

The Dutch parliament passed a resolution this week recognising the mass killings of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire during World War One as genocide.

The resolution, tabled by Dutch Member of Parliament Joel Voordewind, was supported by a wide range of parties, stated Greek Reporter.

“This is an important signal from the Dutch Parliament to the Turkish government to acknowledge its past actions,” said Mr Voordewind. “I hope in the end this will bring both countries to a better understanding and reconciliation with each other.”

A former senior Bosnian Serb military officer has had his life sentence for genocide upheld at an international war crimes court last week.

Zdravko Tolimir, head of Bosnian Serb military intelligence, had most of his 26 grounds for appeal dismissed by Judge Theodor Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Though Mr Tolimir had convictions relating to the forcible transfer of Muslims from Žepa, a town near Srebrenica and other smaller scale massacres dropped, others relating to his role in the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica were upheld. The sentence remained unchanged.

“In light of these genocide convictions alone, the appeals chamber considers that Tolimir’s responsibility does not warrant a revision of his sentence,” said Mr Meron.

The leader of the Muslim Broherhood in Egypt has been sentenced to death, along with 13 others.

A court in Cairo said Mohammed Badie and the other members of the Muslim Brotherhood were guilty of planning attacks against the state and confirmed the death sentence.