The US Statement Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert strongly criticised Turkish forces for preventing Kurdish displaced Kurdish residents in Syria’s Afrin region from returning to their homes.

Answering questions on Thursday the US Sate Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert, said,

“We’ve been watching the situation very carefully in Afrin. 140,000 people have been displaced from Afrin and as far as we can tell, they are not being allowed back into their homes.”

Ms Nauert added,

The British Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry attended the Palestninian National Council summit in Rammallah this week, to reiterate the Labour party’s support for the state of Palestine.

In a statement posted on facebook, Ms Thornberry said,

“First, as we rightly mark this month the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the State of Israel, I said it is also right — and long overdue — for the United Kingdom to formally recognise the State of Palestine, and urge other countries to do the same, not in due course, not when the time is right, but now and without delay.”

The Basque separatist militant group ETA formally announced its disbanding in Spanish papers on Wednesday reports Politico.

In a letter published by the El Diario newspaper, ETA said “ETA has completely dissolved all its structures and has terminated its political initiative.”

The Palestinian Authority and Norway signed an agreement worth $2.71 million to support the Palestinian statistical program of the Palestininan Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) for the period of 2018-2020, reports the International Middle East Media Center.

The agreement will see Norway provide financial and technical assistance to build the capacity of the Palestinian institution responsible for collating and producing statistics about the Palestinian state.

The Dominican Republic in a change in foreign policy cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan to establish exclusive ties with China, reports the BBC.

In a statement made after the decision, the Dominican Republic said it ”recognises that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory.”

The administration added that the decision would be “extraordinarily positive for the future of our country.”

Mohammed Jabbateh, a former leader of a rebel faction in Liberia, has been sentenced to 30 years in a US prison after he was found to have lied in his asylum application over his role in committing potential war crimes during the Liberian civil war.

Mr Jabbateh, nicknamed ‘Jungle Jabbah’, has lived in Pennsylvania for the last 20 years. He was found guilty on two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury and sentenced this week.

Thousands of civilians have been forced to flee Myanmar's northern state of Kachin as the army stepped up air strikes and artillery fire against separatist fighters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) this week amid widespread reports of rights violations by government forces. 

Human rights groups have criticised the military's intensified attacks on the Kachin fighters, arguing that the military campaign and associated rights violations are being launched at a time when the world's focus was centred on Rakhine state and the plight of the Rohingya people. 

The former Bosnian army commander, Atif Dudakovic was detained by police on Friday over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Serb civilians during the conflict between 1992 and 1995. 

Twelve other members of the Bosnian army were also detained along side Mr Dudakovic, who was a popular army commander in the Bihac region, viewed by many Bosniaks as a war hero. 

The detentions follow over 8000 pages of evidence submitted by a team investigating allegations of warcrimes against Serbs. 

Mr Dudakovic has previously rejected all the allegations and evidence as fabrications based on political motivations. 

The President of China welcomed the Prime Minister of India to Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province, for a two-day informal meeting, with both leaders expressing a desire to open a new chapter in bilateral ties between the countries.

According to Xinhua, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the two leaders had established a good working relationship over the last three years and have reached consensus on many important issues.

"The great cooperation between our two great countries can influence the world," Xi said.

The leaders of North Korea and South Korea signed a historic agreement that sought to work for the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and bring an official end to the 6 decade old conflict.

“The two leaders declare before our people of 80 million and the entire world there will be no more war on the Korean peninsula and a new age of peace has begun,” said the two sides.

The agreement looked to pursue phased armed reductions, cease hostile acts,, transform their fortified border into a peace zone and seek multilateral talks with all other countries including the United States, reports Reuters.