Around 300 Yezidi captives have been killed by Islamic State near Mosul, according to a statement from the Yazidi Progress Party.

Thousands of Yazidis were captured by IS militants last year, when they took over huge swathes of land in northern Iraq.

The Yazidi Progress Party's statement, quoted by the Kurdish Shafaq News website, condemned the killings as a "heinous crime" and urged Iraqi forces to free those still held by the militants.

Thousands of people took to the streets, a day after the officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray were charged with homicide, with many exuberantly celebrating the move, while demanding justice to be served.

"We will gather in peace and we will march in peace and we will march until police brutality ends in the United States," Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice which helped organise Saturday's march, told the crowd, according to Reuters.

Using social media hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackSpring, rallies were also planned on Saturday in more than 20 US cities including Dallas, New York and Los Angeles.

At the rally at City Hall, protesters held signs that said, "Running black is not a crime in Baltimore" and "Who's policing the Baltimore City police?", the Baltimore Sun reported.

Mark-Anthony Montgomery of the group Hearts with Promise said the protesters are fighting a "war on poverty" and a "war on injustice."

Nigeria’s army secured the release of 234 that were held captive in Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest.

The Nigerian defence headquarters, said the hostages were rescued on Thursday evening. A total of 500 women and children have been rescued over the past few days, reports the Guardian.

Amnesty International called on authorities, “to ensure that the trauma of those ‘rescued’ is not exacerbated by lengthy security screening in detention.”

Egyptian authorities are using courts to stifle journalism, said Amnesty international in a report released on Sunday.

The report outlined cases of 18 media personnel that had been jailed by Egyptian courts and dozens that were under criminal investigation.

Amnesty’s report, concluded,

“In Egypt today anyone who challenges the authorities’ official narrative, criticised the government or exposes human rights violations is at risk of being tossed into a jail cell, often to be held indefinitely, without charge or trial or face prosecution on trumped-up charges.”

The Germen president, Joachim Gauck, defying his government’s rejection of the concept, expressed support for Greek demands for reparations for the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War Two.

Mr Gauk, speaking in an interview to be published in German press on Saturday, calling on Germany to consider its historical responsibilities, said,