UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay has warned of war crimes occurring in Iraq, as militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) released images of the shooting of dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers.

A Ukraininan military plane was shot down by Pro-Russian separatists, killing all 49 crew and troops aboard.

Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko has vowed to retaliate, saying that "all those involved in cynical acts of terrorism of this magnitude must be punished."

The United States has announced it is sending an aircraft carrier into the Gulf, to increase its options to deal with the conflict in Iraq.

The USS George HW Bush, capable of carrying dozens of fighter jets, was ordered into the Gulf by Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, alongside a guided-missile cruiser and a destroyer.

Tens of thousands of Cambodian migrants have left Thailand, where there are fears that the military government may crack down on illegal workers, with reports of forced deportations emerging.

“President Obama met with his senior foreign policy team yesterday afternoon. We had a comprehensive meeting regarding the events in Iraq. We discussed a range of options including military action.”

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has announced it will treat the loyalist union flags in mixed area in Belfast as a breach of peace.

In a statement to the BBC, the PSNI said that tensions were ‘particularly heightened’ in Ballynafeigh, south Belfast, by the erection of British flags.

"As a result, police have directed that any future erection of flags on this part of the Ormeau Road will be treated as a breach of the peace. Community representatives have been spoken to and advised of this," the statement said.

Sinn Féin assembly member Alex Maskey, who led discussions with the PSNI, said that the police brought themselves into disrepute, as they watched the flags being put up.

"Police officers did see and did stand by when people were putting flags up and I certainly don't want to see that repeated again because the PSNI themselves have brought themselves into disrepute because of their behaviour around the flags.

A Burmese parliamentary committee has voted to retain a constitutional clause, which bans opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from standing at the presidential elections.

The clause bars anyone with non-Burmese partners or children from running for president, with Suu Kyi’s late husband and children all British citizens.

The Kurdish army in the north of Iraq has taken control of the strategically important city of Kirkuk, as Iraqi government forces fled the advancing ISIS fighters.

ISIS seem to be largely avoiding confrontation with the peshmerga and are heading towards the Iraqi capital Baghdad and Shia cities in the south, with only sporadic clashes reported on the outskirts of Kirkuk. The city, just outside the region currently controlled by the Kurdistan government, has long been claimed by Kurds, after Saddam Hussain’s programme of Arabisation saw the demographics of the region change.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary vote, called by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to declare emergency powers, was delayed after MPs failed to turn up.

US President Barack Obama has told reporters that all options to support the Iraqi govermment against ISIS, including military action, are open.

One of two Palestinian teenagers killed during a protest last month, was killed by live ammunition, the post-mortem has shown according to The Guardian.

Around half a million people have been forced to flee Mosul, Iraq's second city after a takeover by the armed group Islaming State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS).

Iraqi soldiers were among those fleeing, mainly to Kurdistan.