Militants from ISIS and Iraqi troops are locked in heavy fighting for the Baiji oil refinery and Tal Afar airport.

The clashes come after US President Obama said he would send 300 military advisors to assist the Iraqi army, but he did not authorise immediate air strikes despite a formal request made by Baghdad.

The US said that efforts to bridge sectarian divides would need to be made by the government before further military support would be given.

The Kurdistan government in Iraq has delivered its first ever consignment of crude oil to Israel, reported Reuters on Friday.

The direct export of oil by Kurdistan has riled Iraqi authorities, who say that the oil trade must be conducted through Baghdad.

There was uncertainty of whether the oil tanker would be allowed to dock in the Israeli port of Ashkelon, however sources told Reuters that the ship arrived on Friday morning and the unloading of the shipment was underway.

“If that tanker docks, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will take an important step toward independence,” Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara, Turkey, told Bloomberg, before the arrival of the ship was confirmed.

Attempts to give African leaders immunity from prosecution for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, will completely undermine the integrity of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, before it even becomes operational, warned Amnesty International this week.

The Amnesty International Africa Director, in an open letter to the African Union (AU), called on heads of state to reject a proposed amendment that could grant impunity to African leaders, reports AllAfrica.

The number of people worldwide who have fled from war or persecution exceeded 50 million in 2013, for the first time since World War Two, the UN refugee agency says.

See the BBC’s report here and the UNHRC’s report here.

The United States is expected to send 100 Special Forces to Iraq, including green berets, navy seals and army rangers deployed to Iraqi brigade across the country, reports CNN.

A formal announcement from President Obama is expected later today.

The Special Forces are expected to be train Iraqi forces to resist ISIS forces which are attempting to take over the country, as well as gathering intelligence information on the whereabouts and bases of ISIS.

The expected announcement comes as the US had previously said there would not be any US troops involved in combat on the ground.

An 89 year old man was arrested on Tuesday in the US, and charged by German authorities the following day with 158 counts of assisting in the genocide of Jews during the Holocaust, reports the New York Times.

The man, Johann Hans Breyer, was a Nazi guard at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, after reportedly joining the paramilitary Waffen-SS force at the age of 17.

According to the Associated Press, Mr Breyer admitted that he had worked as a guard, however, denied he had anything to do with the killings.

The Court of Appeal in Sweden upheld the country's first conviction over the Rwandan genocide stating that despite the length of time passed, the testimonies remain reliable, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Stanislas Mbanenande, a 55 year old Swedish citizen, was sentenced to life imprisonment last year by a Stockholm district court over his role in the genocide, including his involvement in the massacres at Kibuye.

In a statement, the Court of Appeal said,

The United Nations General Assembly has approved the appointment of Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein of Jordan as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights earlier this week.

Prince Zied is now set to replace the existing High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, once her term expires at the end of August 2014.

Speaking after his approval, Prince Zeid stated

The Iraqi government today formally requested that the that the US launches airstrikes against jihadist militants that recently seized several key cities and regions in Iraq, reports the BBC.

The request came after militants attacked Iraq’s the biggest oil refinery north of Bagdhad.

“We have a request from the Iraqi government for air power,” a top US military commander Gen Martin Dempsey confirmed.