Foreign ministers from up to 60 countries within a US led coalition against Islamic State militants will hold their first meeting next week in Brussels.
A US drone strike in Pakistan killed 5 militants, a government official said on Wednesday.
The US drone strike hit a house used by militants, near the Afghan border, as the Pakistani military intensified their own airstrikes in an offensive against Taliban militants.
The Pakistani government condemned the US strike as an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have released two Colombian soldiers and vowed to release an army general, in a move that is hoped to revive stalled peace talks.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos hailed the release, stating it was “an important step which shows the maturity of the peace process and the gestures of peace all Colombians demand."
In a statement released from Havana, Cuba, FARC said it had ”fulfilled the conditions of the first phase of the Special Humanitarian Accord and will now focus its efforts on freeing General Ruben Dario Alzate ... and his companions."
The group went on to call for a halt on all Colombian government military activity in area held by FARC, saying,
"We hope the operations led by the defense ministry and the military siege against the civilian population will be immediately suspended so that the release of these individuals can go ahead without any scares."
The Colombian army has been accused by the militants of bombings, deploying troops and of surveillance flight over FARC-held territory. The two soldiers captured in the eastern Arauca province in a reported clash with FARC militants two weeks ago.
A Missouri grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year old Michael Brown earlier this year, has sparked protests across the United States.
Responding to Monday's verdict, rights’ activists and civil liberties’ organizations denounced the failure to indict Wilson as symptomatic of a larger failure by the American justice system to hold police officers accountable for their disproportionately high rates of violence against people of colour.
Jeffrey Mittman, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement,
“The grand jury's decision does not negate the fact that Michael Brown's tragic death is part of an alarming national trend of officers using excessive force against people of color, often during routine encounters. Yet in most cases, the officers and police departments are not held accountable. While many officers carry out their jobs with respect for the communities they serve, we must confront the profound disconnect and disrespect that many communities of color experience with their local law enforcement.”
In a statement released on Monday, the family of Michael Brown expressed their disappointment with the decision.
“We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions. While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen”
Thousands of Americans at demonstrations throughout the country have condemned the failure to indict Wilson as unjust. Despite calls for restraint by various state and federal officials, including President Obama, some have turned to rioting and violence with reports of police having fired tear gas and flash-bang canisters at protesters. In Ferguson alone, 61 people were arrested Monday night.
At least 87 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a series of air strikes carried out by the Syrian government on the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa.
Rami Abdulrahman from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 10 Syrian government jets had struck Raqqa at least 10 times, killing dozens.
"The majority of the strikes were in the eastern part of the city," Abdulrahman said. "At least 36 of those killed are civilians. As for the rest, we are not sure yet if they were fighters."
"Most of the casualties were caused by two consecutive air strikes targeting the city's industrial area," he went on to add. "The first strike came, residents rushed to rescue the wounded, and then the second raid took place."
The US military in a statement, said that it had, with its allies, conducted several successful airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.
According to the statement 9 strikes in Syria took out at least three Islamic State militant fighting positions, whilst 15 strikes in Iraq destroyed militant checkpoints and military vehicles, reports Reuters.
The US vice president Joe Biden welcomed an agreement made last week between the Iraqi central government and Kurdistan over managing oil exports in the region.
Speaking in Istanbul on Saturday, Biden said he was encouraged by the interim agreement made by the two regional governments.
An explosion, thought to have been caused by a suicide bomber, has killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens more at a volleyball match in eastern Afghanistan.
The attack on Sunday occurred in the Paktika province, where locals had gathered to watch the game.
Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani said the incident was a"heinous attack", according to his spokesman and Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement, "no cause justifies such acts of terrorism and taking of innocent lives."
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The explosion occurred just hours after the lower house of the Afghan parliament, approved security deals which will see around 12,000 NATO and US troops remain in the country after most foreign troops withdraw next month.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) militants warned the Colombian government, increased government military activity would jeopardise the release of the recently captured Colombian general, reports Agence France Presse.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Israel should immediately stop destroying the family homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis, stating the practise amounts to a war crime.
Last week, Israeli authorities demolished the family homes of a Palestinian man who rammed his car into a baby and woman at Jerusalem station, killing them both. HRW noted that in 2014, there have been 5 times that Israeli forces have destroyed Palestinian family homes, leaving dozens homeless.
“When carried out in occupied territory, including East Jerusalem, it amounts to collective punishment, a war crime,” said HRW.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director, added, “punitive home demolitions are blatantly unlawful... Israel should prosecute, convict, and punish criminals, not carry out vengeful destruction that harms entire families.”
The demolitions took place despite the German, French, British, Italian and Spanish ambassadors calling on Israel to halt the practise.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed that the European Union diplomats had met with Israel regarding the practise, but said "this is not meant to be punitive, but rather to dissuade others from carrying out terrorist attacks."
The US has decided to expand their military role in Afghanistan, enabling them to target Taliban fighters from 2015.
Under previous withdrawal plans, the 9,800 US soldiers remaining in the country, would only be training Afghan soldiers and fight remnants of Al Qaeda.
At least 28 people have been killed in a bus attack in northern Kenya, which police officials have blamed on Somali militant group al-Shabab.
The bus was travelling to Nairobi from the northern Mandera county, near the Somali border, when it was ambushed by gunmen. Non-Muslims were reportedly separated out from other passengers and killed.
Two former Chilean generals have been sentenced to jail for the torture of incumbent President Michelle Bachelet's father in 1973.
Edgar Cevallos Jones and Ramon Caceres Jorquera were sentenced to two and three years in prison respectively, for the torture of General Alberto Bachelet, who opposed a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.
Alberto Bachelet died in 1974, with investigators linking his death to the torture he received.
Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Western countries of using sanctions to try and bring about regime change in Russia.
Speaking at a meeting of the advisory Foreign and Defense Policy Council in Moscow, Lavrov said,
“The EU is our largest partner... Nobody is going to shoot himself in the foot and reject cooperation with Europe, but everyone understands that it won’t be business as usual anymore.
“But we don’t need the kind of business we had. [That] was like ‘Russia must do this and must do that,' and we want to cooperate as equals,” he added.
The foreign minister went on to add,
"As for the concept behind to the use of coercive measures, the West is making clear it does not want to force Russia to change policy but wants to secure regime change."
"Now public figures in Western countries say there is a need to impose sanctions that will destroy the economy and cause public protests."
