Chinese engineers are allegedly in talks over a high speed rail link that links to the United States, reports The Guardian.

The project nicknamed the ‘China-Russia-Canada-America’ line, if constructed, would run 13,000km.

Separatists in the eastern regions of Ukraine, today, voted to hold a referendum on independence and denied the Russian President’s calls to wait until peace-talks finished, reports the Independent.

The co-chairman of the de-facto government in Donetsk, announced that the referendum would be held on May 11.

The European Union warned that the referendum would be viewed to have no democratic legitimacy.
The US labelled the decision for a referendum as ‘illegal.’

The United Nations today accused both sides of the South Sudanese conflict of committing crimes against humanity reports Reuters.

A 62 page report by the UN peacekeeping mission to South Sudan (UNMISS) called for further investigations after finding sufficient evidence relating to crimes against humanity.

The US indicated that it would back calls to establish a formal UN authorised investigation into Syrian war crimes by the International Criminal Court, reports Foreign Policy.

The United States is to legally recognise offices of the Syrian National Coalition as a "foreign mission", reported Reuters.

The move was "aimed at formalising the relationship between Washington and the coalition, which until now has been represented by liaison offices in Washington and New York," a State Department spokesperson was reported by the news agency as saying on Monday.

Gunmen suspected of being from the militant group Boko Haram kidnapped 8 from a village in north-eastern Nigeria, reports Reuters.

Lazarus Musa, a resident in the village of Warabe, said the armed men looted the village whilst firing their guns indiscriminately. 

The Russian Foreign Minister, Serei Lavrov, today, ruled out any talks in Geneva to defuse the situation unless representatives of the pro-separation groups were involved, reports the BBC.

The announcement comes as Ukrainian forces have in a series of offensives killed and injured several pro-Russian protesters.

The German Foreign Minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier, commenting on the unfolding events warned that Ukraine was close to war.

The United States said today that it would investigate claims  by Vietnamese officials that the movement of a Chinese oil rig encroached Vietnam’s territorial waters. 

The Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, called for caution from both sides whilst the US looked into the matter.

The United States today, imposed sanctions on two senior leaders from each side of the worsening ethnic conflict, reports Reuters.

The sanctions targeted an army commander loyal to the opposition and the head of the presidential guard. The US decision will freeze all their assets in the states and stop US entities from dealing with them.

Commenting on the sanctions, US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said,