European Parliament chief Martin Schulz on Thursday took aim at British Prime Minister Theresa May's new cabinet, saying it continued a "dangerously vicious cycle" that will hurt Britain and Europe.

Schulz said the cabinet, like the one run by May's predecessor David Cameron, is based on solving internal splits in the ruling center-right Conservative Party rather than promoting the national interest.

The United Nations on Thursday said Ukraine's forces had indiscriminately shelled residents while pro-Russian insurgents and Kiev battalions had summarily killed civilians in what may have constituted "war crimes."

A heavily-armed Ugandan military convoy crossed into South Sudan on Thursday to evacuate citizens trapped by recent fighting in the capital Juba, an AFP reporter at the border said.

A Muslim preacher at the center of an Austrian jihad propaganda network was sentenced to 20 years in jail Wednesday for recruiting young fighters to the Islamic State group.

A Pakistani Taliban militant wanted for his role in a school massacre has died in a US drone strike in Afghanistan, Pakistani and American military officials said Wednesday.

White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused her Republican adversary Donald Trump of corrupting the party of Abraham Lincoln, in a speech at the site of a historic address on slavery by the Civil War-era president.

Clinton delivered a wide-ranging speech on race in America, after a week of shootings and street protests against racial bias by police painfully highlighted the country's divisions.

The US State Department designated two Russians allied to the Islamic State group as "global terrorists" Wednesday, including a former Guantanamo detainee and a Chechen militant tied to deadly attacks in Moscow.

The State Department said Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, also known as Amir Khamzat, is the IS leader in Chechnya and responsible for suicide bombings in Russia including the January 2011 attack on Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, which killed 35.

European leaders on Wednesday heaped pressure on Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May to launch the country's divorce proceedings from the EU, while Russia's Vladimir Putin said he was ready for "constructive dialogue" with David Cameron's successor.

French President Francois Hollande congratulated Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May on her appointment Wednesday and urged her to quickly begin talks on the country's divorce from the EU, the Elysee Palace said.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the deployment of 47 troops to crisis-ridden South Sudan to protect the US embassy and its staff.

"Although equipped for combat, these additional personnel are deployed for the purpose of protecting US citizens and property," Obama wrote in a letter to Congress released by the White House.