Kurdish forces have recaptured three oil fields near the city of Mosul, which were overrun by Islamic State militants in recent weeks.

IS blew up the installations at Ain Zalah as they retreated from the Kurdish Peshmerga attack.

The US has been supporting the Peshmerga with air strikes, helping the Kurds to regain some of the ground lost to IS.

The water situation in the US city of Detroit has been described by the UN as “an affront to human rights”.

Around a third of the total population in the city, which declared bankruptcy last year, are faced with having their water supply cut off as they are unable to pay their bill, The Times reported.

“I have not changed my opinion on the subject... There is and there will not be a referendum... It’s crazy what is being planned right now and it is deeply negative for Catalan society and Spanish society.”

More than a thousand Russian troops are operating inside Ukrainian territory according to NATO, who released satellite images showing forces with heavy weaponry.

"Over the past two weeks we have noted a significant escalation in both the level and sophistication of Russia's military interference in Ukraine," Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, head of NATO's crisis management centre said reports Reuters.

"We assess well over 1,000 Russian troops are now operating inside Ukraine," he said, referring to Russia's actions as "incursions" rather than an invasion. "They are supporting separatists (and) fighting with them."

"We have also detected large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defence systems, artillery, tanks and armoured personnel carriers being transferred to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine," he said.

The UN Security Council met in an emergency session, and NATO and EU leaders said they will will consider a response on Friday, but Russia denied that its troops where in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Peter Poroschenko also said that Russians were supporting pro-Moscow rebels, who captured Novoazovsk and other parts of southeast Ukraine.

Members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (Undof) in Syria’s Golan Heights are being held by an “armed group” according to the UN.

A UN spokesperson said the 43 peacekeepers were detained "during a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of separation".

"The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation."