The United States threatened to conduct unilateral attacks on Syria if President Assad continued to bombard the rebel area of eastern Ghouta.

Syrian government allied forces have received heavy condemnation from the international community for the ongoing assault on Ghouta.

Speaking to at the UN in New York, US Ambassador reminded the UN Security Council that last year the US responded to Syria’s use of chemical weapons with airstrikes.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar called for accountability for anti-Rohingya violence in the country, telling the Human Rights Council that she was increasingly of the opinion that the violence amounted to genocide.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Barcelona on Sunday demanding Catalan parties to finalise a new government and declare a Catalan Republic.

Photograph: Duetsche Welle

Speaking to journalists the rally organiser, Agusti Alcoberro, said,

Myanmar’s Rakhine State is being militarised at an alarming pace, as authorities are building security force bases and bulldozing land where Rohingya villages were burned to the ground just months ago, Amnesty International said on Monday.

Over 40 South Sudanese military officers have been identified by the United Nations as alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, highlighting a clear pattern of "ethnic persecution". 

In a report, released on Friday, investigators with the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, outlined allegations that military officials including generals and state governors had raped and murdered a number of civilians. 

Cyril Ramaphosa was elected president of South Africa by the country’s parliament on Thursday, after Jacob Zuma stepped down following weeks of intense pressure.

Mr Ramaphosa said he would "continue to improve the lives of our people," and “work very hard to try to not disappoint the people of South Africa", as he accepted the position yesterday evening. He is set to deliver his first state of the nation address tonight.

The International Criminal Court has received over a million statements from Afghans alleging they have been victims of war crimes.

Since the ICC started collecting material in November to decide whether to seek a war crimes investigation, the court has received 1.17 million submissions.

The leader of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams has stepped down after 34 years in his role, allowing Mary Lou McDonald to take over as the new party president at a special conference on Saturday. 

Mr Adams had announced his resignation in November last year. 

In her first address as party president, Ms McDonald said she would work towards a referendum on Irish unity. 

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maldives has been arrested after placing a court order on the President to release political prisoners, reports the BBC.

Chief Justice Abdualla Saeed and another judge were arrested hours after the Maldives government declared a state of emergency. The state of emergency gives a range of powers to the security forces to make arrests and ban public gatherings.

United National Secretary General António Guterres stated that the United Nations would not tolerate any sexual harassment within the institution, at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of genocide, whilst at the sidelines of the African Union summit reports AP.

Mr Guterres’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that the secretary-general met with Mr Bashir on grounds of “operational necessity”. Operational necessities allow the UN chief to meet with the Sudanese president “from time to time” he added.

Activists in France have filed a case against a man accused of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide this week.

Michel Bakuzakundi, who reportedly lives in the French city of Le Havre, is accused of being involved in the killings that saw almost 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu supporters massacred.

Separatist fighters in Yemen have reportedly captured the defacto capital, Aden and surrounded the presidential palace. 

According to the news wire, Reuters, the prime minister and senior government figures are trapped inside the palace. 

Aden has been the government's base since 2014 when Houthi rebels from the North took control of Yemen's capital, Sana'a. 

The newly formed political party of Farc is to put forward 74 candidates in Colombia's upcoming legislative elections in March.

Under the peace deal signed in 2016, Farc is guaranteed 10 seats. It changed its name from Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to Revolutionary Alternative Common Force, keeping its abbreviation of 'Farc'.