Sweden’s Défense Minister Peter Hultqvist on Wednesday reiterated his government’s commitment to training and supporting Kurdish Peshmerga forces, reports Kurdistan24.net.

“We have a training mission in Iraq – in Erbil. We have worked there together with the Peshmerga for a long time. We have a good experience of that and we thing its very important for Sweden to be a partner in the coalition against Da’esh. There is no change in our support to the mission. That’s the bottom line for the Kurdish people. We’re here to help.”

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont announced his decision to renounce leadership of Catalonia on Wednesday.

Speaking from hi self-exile in Berlin, Mr Puigdemont, pointed to Catalan lawmaker Quim Torra as a strong candidate to take on the role of regional president.

UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa stated that the escalating violence in Gaza is exacerbating child suffering.

According to UNICEF, five children were killed and hundreds injured during peaceful protests along the Israeli border. In addition, many children exhibit signs of distress and trauma. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, ordered the Israeli Security Forces to stop the use of "lethal force against unarmed demonstrators."

In addition, electricity cuts and fuel shortages in Gaza have further deepened concerns – as nine out of 10 families do not have access to potable water.

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.