US President Barack Obama reiterated his support for a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, where he criticised comments made by the newly re-elected Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, Mr Obama said,

The Canadian government has announced it will extend its airstrikes against ISIS into Syrian territory.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada would not seek "express consent" of the Syrian regime.

"Instead, we will work closely with our American and other allies, who have already been carrying out such operations against ISIL over Syria in recent months."

"The government recognises that ISIL's power base, indeed the so-called caliphate's capital, is in Syria," Mr Harper said in the House of Commons.

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday approved requests by the Afghan government to slow down the removal of US troops from Afghanisatan, reports Reuters.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Barack Obama said,

The head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde said the IMF would be "delighted" to cooperate with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a Chinese-led development bank, with over 30 international members, with a similar remit as the World Bank.

Ms Lagarde said there was "massive" room for IMF co-operation with the AIIB on infrastructure financing.

The jailed leader of the PKK, Abudllah Ocalan, has reiterated his call on his fighters to lay down their arms in their fight against Turkey.

Pro-Kurdish politician Sirri Sureyya Onder, who visited Mr Ocalan in prison last week, read out a statement by the leader at an event marking the Kurdish Newroz festival.

Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi called on the United Nations to dispatch “urgent intervention” to the country, as Houthi militants took over Yemen's third largest city.

US President Barack Obama, reiterating his belief that a two state solution was the best way to ensure the long term security of Israel, said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election stance would make it “hard to find a path were people are seriously belieiving that negotiations are possible.

Explosions at mosques in the Yemeni capital Sanaa have killed dozens of worshippers and injured over 100 people, as people gathered for noon prayers on Friday.

At least 77 people were reported to have been killed in the blasts, after suicide bombers attacked the Badr and al-Hashoosh mosque, reports the BBC.

At least 70 bodies have been found in a mass grave in a Nigerian town recaptured from Boko Haram.

Troops form Chad and Niger said they found the bodies in Damasak, which was under the control of the militants for months.

Some of the victims are reported to have had their throats slit and others were decapitated, according to reports.

Chadian army Col Azem Bermandoa Agouna told AFP that he had visited the grave and seen "about 100 bodies spread under a bridge just outside the town".

The militant group ISIS may have committed genocide against the Yazidi people in Iraq, according a new report by the UN.

The report said ISIS had "the intent... to destroy the Yazidi as a group."

"In some instances, villages were entirely emptied of their Yazidi population."

The report found “widespread abuses committed by ISIL include killings, torture, rape and sexual slavery, forced religious conversions and the conscription of children”.

A statement by the OHCHR said: "One witness described how two ISIL members sat laughing as two teenage girls were raped in the next room.

Mali’s government said it will not participate in further talks with rebels seeking autonomy for northern Mali, in a statement made on Wednesday.

The government spokesperson, Choguel Kokala Maiga, said,

“There is no question for us to resume negotiations again, otherwise it will never end.”

The government refusal comes only a day after the rebel coalition agreed to further rounds of talks.