The UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 5 children were killed by Syrian government airstrikes that hit a school in rebel held areas in Aleppo on Sunday.

The Observatory, which tracks the war using a network of sources on the ground, said the death toll from the strike on Jamal al Qabani School would most probably increase, reports Reuters.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) are to jointly launch a search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean to help migrants who risk their lives to flee conflicts and reach Europe.

Using the ship MY Phoenix from May to October, the service will attempt to rescue some of the thousands who are predicted to attempt to cross the Mediterranean by boat. An estimated 3,400 people have died so far this year attempting to reach Europe.

Arjan Hehenkamp, MSF's general director, told the BBC the situation was "dire", especially since the Italian navy's search and rescue mission, Mare Nostrum, ended last November.

“Europe has turned its back on people fleeing some of the worst humanitarian crises of our time,” continued Mr Hehenkamp. “The decision to close doors and build fences means that men, women and children are forced to risk their lives and take a desperate journey across the sea. Ignoring this situation will not make it go away. Europe has both the resources and the responsibility to prevent more deaths on its doorstep and must act in order to do so.”

The Turkish government has summoned the Vatican envoy in Ankara after Pope Francis described the mass killings perpetrated by Ottomans against Armenians during World War One as a genocide.

At a mass conducted in the Armenian Catholic rite at Peter's Basilica, the pope said humanity had lived through "three massive and unprecedented tragedies" in the last century.

"The first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the 20th Century', struck your own Armenian people," he said.

 

Obama and Castro at the summit (Reuters)

US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro today met on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, the first such meeting between the leaders of the two countries since 1959.

"[Obviously] there are still going to be deep and significant differences between our two governments," Mr Obama said, even as he welcomed "the spirit of openness and courtesy" Mr Castro had shown during their meeting.

"What we have both concluded is that we can disagree with a spirit of respect and civility," he said. "Over time, it is possible for us to turn the page and develop a new relationship between our two countries."

The president said the US will not ignore rights issues on the island.

"We will continue to try to lift up concerns around democracy and human rights," he said.

"[Some] of our immediate tasks include normalizing diplomatic relations and ultimately opening an embassy in Havana, and Cuba being able to open an embassy in Washington, D.C. so that our diplomats are able to interact on a more regular basis," the US president added.

Raul Castro, the brother of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, said patience was needed but that Cuba was ready to talk about sensitive topics.

Kenya has given the United Nations a 3 month deadline to remove the temporary housing of over 500,000 Somali refugees in direct response to the University massacres carried out by Somali gunmen, reports Reuters.

The deputy president, William Ruto, in a statement on Saturday, said,

“We have asked the UHCR to relocate the refugees in three months, failure to which we shall relocate them ourselves. The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa.”

The Reuters bureau chief for Baghdad left Iraq after he was threatened on Facebook and Shi’ite satellite television after reporting on lynching and looting in Tikrit.

Ned Parker received death threats and had his picture published on a Satellite television show calling for the expulsion of the Reuters journalist.

The calls came after Mr Parker and two colleagues detailed human rights abuses committed by the government on Islamic State militants, after recapturing the region of Tikrit.

The leader of the Muslim Broherhood in Egypt has been sentenced to death, along with 13 others.

A court in Cairo said Mohammed Badie and the other members of the Muslim Brotherhood were guilty of planning attacks against the state and confirmed the death sentence.

US-Egyptian citizen Mohamed Soltan was sentenced to life imprisonment for supporting the organisation, which is proscribed in Egypt, and for "transmitting false news.

Local militia allied with Yemen’s government said they captured two Iranian officers advising Houthi rebels on Friday reports Reuters.

Sources on the ground told Reuters that an Iranian colonel and captain were captured in two separate districts that have seen heavy advances by Houthi militants.

A Spanish judge has ruled 7 Moroccan officials accused of orchestrating killings in Western Sahara from 1975-1991, should be arrested and extradited to Spain to face charges of genocide.

Judge Pablo Ruz ruled this week that some of the victims in Western Sahara had Spanish identity cards, since they had lived in the area when it was a Spanish colony. Some of the accused include members of the current government.

A Palestinian was killed and several others wounded by Israeli military after a Palestinian militants funeral turned violent after stones were thrown at Israeli soldiers, reports Reuters.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army said that soldiers opened fire at the funeral in fear of their lives after protesters threw rocks and rolled burning car tyres at them, adding that first non-lethal means were used before resorting to shooting live ammunition.