More than 70 men and women have been summarily executed in the restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. mission in the country (MONUSCO) said Thursday.

"The reports received by MONUSCO suggest that the summary executions were allegedly committed mainly by armed groups to spread terror among the population. The majority of the victims were killed with machete," MONUSCO said in a statement.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday said Washington should respect his country's judicial authority after the release of 65 alleged Taliban fighters triggered U.S. condemnation.

"Afghanistan is a sovereign country. If the Afghan judicial authorities decide to release the prisoners, it is of no concern to the U.S. and should be of no concern to the U.S.," Karzai told reporters in Ankara.

Former detainees accused of a coup attempt in South Sudan said Wednesday they will be present at peace talks between the government and rebels, but not sit in as a negotiating party.

"Us being a third party is not going to complicate the talks. On the contrary I think it's going to be an added value to the talks," said former cabinet minister Deng Alor, referring to the group of seven prisoners released at the end of January.

The United States will "help" the Philippines in the event that China occupies disputed islands in the South China Sea, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations said Thursday.

Admiral Jonathan Greenert also stressed that the U.S. would honor its mutual defense treaty with the Philippines amid a seething territorial conflict with China over the resource-rich waters.

The British government held an emergency meeting Thursday after a string of crude explosive devices were sent to armed forces recruitment offices.

Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of the government's COBRA emergencies committee after suspect packages were sent to seven offices in southeast England.

Police in London on Thursday arrested a fugitive killer from the armed Basque separatist movement ETA who is wanted by Spain, Spanish officials said.

Antonio Troitino, 56, was on conditional release from jail in England but Spain had maintained an extradition warrant for him.

Turkish riot police on Thursday fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse some 2,000 protesters demanding the release of army officers jailed for plotting a coup.

"Freedom to patriots, end conspiracies," the protesters shouted as police blocked them from marching to parliament in the capital Ankara.

Kenya's attorney general on Thursday rejected accusations that Nairobi had failed to cooperate with International Criminal Court prosecutors' crimes against humanity case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"The impression has been created in this court and elsewhere that Kenya has not at any time extended cooperation," Attorney General Githu Muigai told a hearing on the troubled case at The Hague-based ICC.

A Japanese mayor whose city is set to be the site of a relocated U.S. military base pleaded Thursday for the plan to be dropped, as Tokyo and Washington push ahead with the move.

Susumu Inamine, who has just been re-elected on a fiercely anti-base platform as the mayor of Nago, Okinawa, said the burden of hosting the 47,000 United States personnel based in Japan should be spread across the country.

At least six people were killed Thursday in a suicide car bomb attack targeting a United Nations convoy close to Mogadishu's heavily-fortified international airport, officials said.

Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels, who are fighting to overthrow the country's internationally-backed government, told Agence France Presse that one of their suicide bombers carried out the attack.