Russia has exercised its veto at the UN Security Council to block a move to set up an international criminal tribunal into the MH17 disaster.

Russia was the only country in the council to veto the resolution, which had 11 countries vote in favour of the move. Angola, China and Venezuela abstained.

Responding to the veto, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said, “It is tragic that Russia has used the privilege entrusted to it in order to advance international peace and security ... to frustrate international peace and security”.

“But let us be clear,” she added, “today’s veto cannot and will not deny the victims and their families justice”.

Israel approved plans to build 300 new homes in Jewish settlements within the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, reports Reuters.

 A statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said, “immediate construction of 300 housing units has been approved.”

Turkey launched its heaviest offensive on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, since the start of their military campaign in the region.

The strikes hit shelters and depots belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), reports Reuters.

Iraq condemned the air strikes as an “escalation and an assault on Iraqi sovereignty.”

The United Nations aid chief Stephen O’Brien stressed the importance of “carving out space” to meet the humanitarian needs of people in Syria in an address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Expressing hope that an upcoming visit by his team would “provide an opportunity to constructively engage with the government to address some of the significant access challenges that seriously impeded humanitarian operations,” Mr O’Brien described the level of suffering as “gargantuan.”

Turkey and the US will agree plans to provide air cover to Syrian rebels in an attempt to clear Islamic State militants from a strip of land on the Turkish border, reports Reuters.

Speaking to Turkish TV, prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the aim was to provide air cover for moderate Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State militants, adding,

Barack Obama and African leaders will discuss options that could include sanctions or penalties on South Sudan’s conflicting parties should they fail to reach a peace agreement by mid-august, reports The Guardian.

Outlining details of a meeting to be held in Addis Ababa, a US official travelling with the US president on Air Force One said,

Saudi led coalition forces announced a five day humanitarian ceasefire to start on Sunday, reports Reuters.

The announcement was made on Saturday, after Yemen’s exiled president Abd-Rabbu Monsaur Hadi, requested a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to Yemen’s war affected civilians.

UN aid ship reaches Yemen (21 Jul 2015)

Negotiators in South Sudan’s peace talks have proposed establishing a court to try those responsible for genocide and war crimes in South Sudan, in a power-sharing document that hopes to end the 19 month conflict.

A draft agreement negotiated by eight East African nations of the IGAD block, convening in Ethiopia, proposes an independent hybrid court, set up in collaboration with the African Union and United Nations to try possible genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.