South Sudanese forces are accused of having committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, killing and raping civilians during its offensive against rebels in Unity state, Human Rights Watch said in its latest report on the country.

The New York-based rights organisation said the army and allied militants from the Bul Nuer ethnic group forcibly displaced tens of thousands of people in Unity by attacking women, elderly, and children, while burning villages and stealing cattle.

South Sudan's government said any alleged rights violations were limited to "a few individuals" who will face justice in domestic courts. But Skye Wheeler, a researcher with Human Rights Watch told The Associated Press the attacks were "far more widespread and systematic to be blamed on a few rotten apples."

The report, “They Burned it All: Destruction of Villages, Killings, and Sexual Violence in South Sudan’s Unity State,” is based on more than170 interviews in June and July with survivors and witnesses, and documents the killing of 60 people, including some by hanging or burning, and 63 rapes.

Brics countries launched a new bank on Tuesday, called the New Development Bank (NDB).

The countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, launched the bank in Shanghai and said it will lend money to developing countries to help finance infrastructure projects.

"Our objective is not to challenge the existing system as it is but to improve and complement the system in our own way," NDB President Kundapur Vaman Kamath said.

The north-east of Nigeria, long plagued by conflict between the government and Boko Haram militants, will receive $2bn in aid from the World Bank, according to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking in Washington, after talks with officials from the World Bank, Buhari said priority ust be given to rebuilding infrastructure and helping those displaced by the conflict.

In a statement published earlier today, Mr Buhari urged the World Bank to send a team to Nigeria to assess how to spend the funds.

A ship carrying humanitarian and food aid to Yemen reached the port of Aden on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

The ship contained UN food aid to feed approximately 180,000 people for a month and had been anchored off the coast of Aden since June 26 said the World Food Bank.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the World Food Bank, said,

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that agreed on sanctions relief for Iran provide the terms of its nuclear agreement with world powers were implemented.

The unanimously passed resolution allows UN sanctions to be re-imposed if Iran breaches the deal in the next 10 years and also prevents any veto powers from stopping the reinstatement of any sanctions, reports Reuters.

The Cuban flag flies in Washington DC officially for the first time in over 50 years, as the two nations restored diplomatic ties, with the opening of their respective embassies.

A ceremony in the US capital, attended by the Cuban Foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez, saw over 500 people cheer, as the flag was raised, including by chanting former Cuban leader Fidel Castro's name.

White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said the new diplomatic ties were "yet another demonstration that we don't have to be imprisoned by the past."

The former leader of Chad has been placed on trial in Senegal for crimes against humanity.

Hissene Habre, who led Chad between 1982 and 1990, will be tried by the Senegalese courts of  Extraordinary African Chambers. The court was established by the African Union to hear the specific case.

The trials are the first time a case under universal jurisdiction has taken place in Africa.

It is also the first time the courts of one country are prosecuting the former ruler of another in Africa, said, Human Rights Watch.

A Colombian army officer who was detained by the FARC militants was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, on Sunday.

Colombia’s president Juan Manual Santos confirmed that the FARC militants had handed over the soldier.

Britain’s premier David Cameron pledged to increase support in the fight against Islamic State militants by looking to gain parliamentary approval to join US led airstrikes.

Speaking to US TV broadcasters, NBC, Mr Cameron said,

“I want Britain to do more. I’ll always have to take my parliament with me. We are talking and discussing at the moment, including with the opposition parties in Britain, what more we can do. But be in no doubt we are committed to working with you to destroy the caliphate in both countries.”

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country's policy towards the US, Syria and other countries will not change, despite the nuclear deal signed earlier this week.

During a speech in Tehran, marking the Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, the ayatollah said Iran still had sharp differences with the US, especially over the Middle East, and pledged continue to back Syria, Iraq, the Palestinians and "oppressed people" in Yemen and Bahrain, he said.

"Whether the [nuclear] deal is approved or disapproved, we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon," Ayatollah Khamenei said. "Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant US will not change."