The United Nations Human Rights Chief warned that Israel was deliberately defying international law in its offensive against Gaza and that both world powers should hold it responsible for war crimes as a domestic mechanism would never occur, reports Haaretz.

Navi Pillay, on Thursday, further added that Hamas’ indiscriminate firing of rockets into densely populated areas, was also a violation of international law.

Citing attacks on homes, schools, hospitals and UN premises, Pillay said,

The European Union has adopted its most toughest sanctions against Russia yet, in an attempt to exert pressure and end Russia's support of the pro-separatist rebels in Ukraine.

Five Russian key banks, including the country's largest lender, Sberbank, was one of the latest targets. See here for more on the FT.

The VTB Bank, Gazprombank, the Russian Agriculture Bank (Rosselkhozbank) and Vnesheconombank (VEB) have also been listed.

The UN and US announced Thursday, that Israel and Hamas, have agreed to an unconditional 72 hour humanitarian ceasefire that will commence on Friday morning, reports Al-Jazeera.

A joint statement by the UN Secretary General and US Secretary of state said that the Israelis and Palestinians would enter talks in Cairo, after the ceasefire began at 05:00 GMT.

An UN-backed tribunal into the last two surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge, who are accused of genocide over the mass killings of Vietnamese and Cham Muslims in the country in the 1970s, is to begin on Wednesday.
 
Former head of state 83-year-old Khieu Samphan, and 88-year-old Nuon Chea, Pol Pot's deputy, have already faced trials over charges of crimes against humanity and are due to have a verdict delivered on August 7th.

The United Nations Secretary-General and the United States have condemned an attack on a United Nations school in a refugee camp Gaza, which has killed at least 16 people.

Thousands of people were sheltering at the United Nations school in the Jabalya camp, when artillery shells struck the compound. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that “all available evidence points to Israeli artillery as the cause”.

A tanker carrying $100-million of oil from Kurdistan will discharge in Texas, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The delivery of Kurdish oil to the US has sparked discontent with the Iraqi government in Baghdad who view all Kurdish oil deliveries as smuggling, reports Al-Jazeera.

Iraqi Kurdistan has been selling its crude without permission from Baghdad since January.

Israel attacked high-profile targets in Gaza on Tuesday, including Gaza's only power plant, whilst Egyptian mediators prepared a revised proposal to stop the escalating conflict, reports Reuters.

Palestinian officials say that at least 100 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.

The Israeli military said that Hamas launched at least 52 rockets towards southern and central Israel, including the Tel Aviv area with 5 soldiers dying in combat overnight, the Israeli military reported.

United Nations says that 135,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar remain in refugee camps and face malnutrition, 2 years after they were first forced to vacate their homes amidst escalating ethnic riots, reports the Washington Post.

A representative from UNICEF in Myanmar, warned that there was an alarming increase in child malnutrition amongst the Rohingya community.

The United Nations, Saturday, warned of a deepening ethnic rift between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar, reports Reuters.

The Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, during a news conference at the end of her 10 day visit, highlighting ‘deplorable’ living conditions for displaced Muslims, called on the government to tackle the reoccurring issue of inter-communal violence.