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.

A Spanish judge has ruled 7 Moroccan officials accused of orchestrating killings in Western Sahara from 1975-1991, should be arrested and extradited to Spain to face charges of genocide.

Judge Pablo Ruz ruled this week that some of the victims in Western Sahara had Spanish identity cards, since they had lived in the area when it was a Spanish colony. Some of the accused include members of the current government.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation has rejected requesting the Syrian military to launch military action against Islamic State in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus.

A statement on Thursday said the PLO refused to be drawn into the “hellish conflict” in Syria.

"We refuse to be drawn into any armed campaign, whatever its nature or cover, and we call for resorting to other means to spare the blood of our people and prevent more destruction and displacement for our people of the camp," it said.

Palestinian militant group Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis has been coordinating with Syrian rebel forces in their fight against IS and the Syrian government.

The United Nations said it is extremely concerned about the safety of Palestinians and Syrians inside the camp.

"In the horror that is Syria, the Yarmouk refugee camp is the deepest circle of hell," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday.

"A refugee camp is beginning to resemble a death camp. The residents of Yarmouk - including 3,500 children - are being turned into human shields."

The United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held closed door talks in what were the highest level talks between the two nations in over 50 years.

Closed door discussion were held after the arrival of the two statesmen in Panama, who are there to attend the 2 day Summit of the Americas, reports the BBC.

A Palestinian was killed and several others wounded by Israeli military after a Palestinian militants funeral turned violent after stones were thrown at Israeli soldiers, reports Reuters.

Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, said today there is no guarantee there will be a final deal after negotiations on its nuclear programme with world powers.

Mr Khamenei said in a statement "it is possible that the untrustworthy side [the P5+1] wants to restrict our country in the details".

"I have never been optimistic about negotiating with America. While I was not optimistic, I agreed with this particular negotiation and supported the negotiators," the statement went on.

The supreme leader and President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would not sign a final deal unless sanctions were lifted "on the first day" of implementation.

The proposed agreement says Iran will cut its stockpile of enriched uranium and the number of centrifuges it runs, in return for a phased lifting of UN, US and EU sanctions once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirms Iranian compliance.

The University of Cape Town has removed a monument to British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, after students campaigned for its removal.

The statue, targeted alongside other monuments to leaders of the colonial-era, was unveiled in 1934.

Protesters said the statue had "great symbolic power" and glorified someone "who exploited black labour and stole land from indigenous people".

"I contend that we [the English] are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race," Rhodes once said.

Some white South Africans opposed the decision to remove the monument and are rallying to protect statues of 19th Century president Paul Kruger in the capital Pretoria, and 17th Century colonialist Jan van Riebeeck in Cape Town.

The leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Saudi Arabia of committing genocide by carrying out air strikes in Yemen against Houthi militants.

Canada has carried out its first set of air strikes in Syria as part of a US-led coalition fighting against Islamic State (IS), becoming the first Nato country other than the US to do so.

A former imam and activist who criticised the Syrian government has been found dead with gunshot wounds in London on Wednesday.

Iraqi forensic teams started exhuming bodies from suspected mass graves of soldiers massacred by Islamic State militants whilst they controlled the city of Tikrit.

Tikrit was taken by Islamic State militants in June 2014, who claimed to have executed at least 1,400 Iraqi soldiers at the time.

Mass graves in the region were uncovered after the Iraqi military recaptured the city from the militants a few days ago.