COLU @ CONCEPTS

Image copyright EPA Image caption Security guards spotted the journalist flying the drone near the parliament in Naypyidaw Myanmar police have charged two foreign journalists and two Burmese with breaking import laws after they flew a drone near the country's parliament. They are being held in custody until their first hearing and could face up to three years in jail. The Malaysian and Singaporean were working for Turkish broadcaster TRT. Tension has been rising between Myanmar and Turkey over the Rohingya crisis, in which more than 600,000 people have fled Rakhine state for Bangladesh. Last month the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that violence against Rohingya Muslims amounted to genocide. Myanmar says it is fighting insurgents. What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis Myanmar Muslims fear for future Finding out the truth about Arsa militants Drone footage shows thousands fleeing Security guards spotted the journalists flying the drone near...

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption The US says nearly two dozen staff were affected by the alleged attacks Cuba says there have been no sonic attacks against US embassy staff in its capital, Havana, and that the claims are a "political manipulation" aimed at damaging bilateral relations. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismissed allegations of any kind of attack as "totally false". The US said nearly two dozen personnel had health problems after the alleged attacks and cut its staff as a result. Reports suggest sonic attacks were to blame, but nothing has been proven. Washington has not blamed Havana for the alleged attacks, and the Cuban government has previously denied targeting embassy staff. What is a covert sonic weapon? US-Cuba thaw halted amid diplomat injuries The US expelled 15 Cuban diplomats, saying that Havana had failed to protect its employees, but Cuba said the move was "unjustified". The US government also suspende...

Image copyright AFP/GETTY Image caption Hundreds of thousands of malnourished children risk starvation, the WFP says The head of the UN food agency has appealed for aid to avert a humanitarian crisis in the conflict-wracked DR Congo province of Kasai. David Beasley told the BBC that more than three million people were now at risk of starvation. He warned that hundreds of thousands of children could die in the coming months if aid was not delivered. Violence flared in August 2016 after the death of a local leader during clashes with security forces. It has forced 1.5 million million people from their homes, most of them children. DR Congo's voodoo rebels 'My husband was beheaded' Mr Beasley described the situation in Kasai as a "disaster". "Our teams are out in the field, we saw burned huts, burned homes, seriously malnourished children that had been stunted, obviously many children have died already," the head of the World Food progra...

Image copyright AFP Image caption A 2011 photo of the Russian Mi-8 helicopter at Barentsburg A Norwegian search team has located the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that crashed into the sea with eight people on board in the Arctic. The helicopter, which has been missing since Thursday, lies on the ocean floor off the archipelago of Svalbard, near Barentsburg, officials said. Norwegian police would now search for those on board, a statement said. Norway has sovereignty over Svalbard but Russia has a small coal-mining community in Barentsburg. Russia's consul in Barentsburg said five crew and three scientists were on board the helicopter, all Russians. They are feared dead. The helicopter went missing at 15:35 local time (13:35 GMT). It was on a short flight to Barentsburg from Pyramiden, a disused Russian mining settlement. The helicopter is operated by a Russian coal-mining enterprise, Arktikugol. Image copyright AFP Image caption The disused Russian mining settl...

Image copyright AP/GETTY Image caption Militant group al-Shabab said it was behind the twin bombings on Saturday The Somali government has fired two top security officials after  twin blasts and a siege left at least 27 people dead on Saturday . They came just two weeks after at least 358 people died in another attack, one of the deadliest ever to hit Mogadishu. Police chief Abdihakin Dahir Saiid and the director of national intelligence, Abdillahi Mohamed Sanbaloosh, were both removed from office on Sunday. The decision came after an emergency cabinet meeting, Somali officials say. The Islamist militant group al-Shabab says it carried out Saturday's bombings. Police say three militants were captured alive and two others blew themselves up during the attack. The siege started on Saturday afternoon after a car bomb was driven into the Nasahablod Two hotel. A few minutes later, a second car bomb targeted the former parliament house nearby. Sporadic gunfire continu...

Image copyright AFP/GETTY IMAGES Image caption Massoud Barzani played a prominent role in creating an autonomous Kurdish state Iraqi Kurdish president Massoud Barzani is to step down as the region wrestles with Baghdad over independence. In a letter read to the Kurdish parliament, Mr Barzani said he would not seek an extension to his term which had been due to end in four days. "I ask parliament to meet to fill the vacancy in power", he said. Kurds voted last month for Kurdistan to secede but Iraq's central government insists the referendum was illegal. Iraq's army then launched an assault on the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk, seizing the area's rich oil fields. Mr Barzani said he would remain a Peshmerga, or Kurdish fighter, and would "continue to defend the achievements of the people of Kurdistan". Kirkuk: Iraq's war within a war Iraqi Kurds decisively back independence Independence: What is at stake? The 71-year-old's dream ...