China has increased the amount of weapons it exports to foreign countries to become the third biggest exporter of arms, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

China overtook Germany, France and the UK as it increased exports of arms by 143% from 2010-14,  compared to 2005-09.

The country now accounts for about 5% of the world's exports of weapons, though it still lags behind the US and Russia, with exports at 31% and 27% respectively.

A US diplomat who was arrested after Democratic Republic of Congo security forces raided an activist meeting in Kinshasa has been freed, said Congo's government.

USAID official Kevin Sturr was amongst the 40 people arrested after security forces broke up a press conference attended by journalists, activists and musicians.

DRC's Information Minister Lambert Mende said the diplomat had been “returned to the embassy late last night."

Myanmar's air force is reported to have dropped a bomb in a field on Chinese territory, killing four civilians.
China in response sent fighter jets to their shared border in the Yunnan province.

Myanmar denied dropping the bomb and said Kokang rebels, who have been fighting the Burmese army, may have been behind the attack.

"It's possible that those fighting with us purposely created these attacks with the intent of causing misunderstanding between China and us," a Myanmar official told Reuters.

A coalition of aid agencies has accused the UN Security Council of failing the victims of the conflict in Syria, with the UN accusing the powerful countries on the Security Council of putting their own interests ahead of the need to end the conflict.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN chief, told the BBC the UN still believed in a political solution to the drawn out conflict but said there was a lack of political will to " move forward in a united fashion to stop the fighting".

Cuba and the United States have re-established direct telephone communication links for the first time in 15 years.

"The re-establishment of direct communications between the United States and Cuba contributes to providing better infrastructure and better communications quality between the people and our two countries," the company Etecsa said in a statement, adding that the link would initially be only for telephone calls.