Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has faced strong opposition, following a decree issued on Thursday, that consolidated power over the judiciary with the president.

Amidst protests in Cairo square, prominent Egyptian democracy advocate Mohammed ElBaradei called on the president revoke the decree that granted him near absolute powers over the judiciary.

Ahead of a pivotal election on Sunday, Artur Mas, Catalonia's president, outlined his views on the call for independence. Highlighting the rejection of Catalonia's call for greater tax-raising powers, assaults on the teaching of the Catalan language at schools and the dire Spanish economy, Mas pledged to hold a referendum on independence if he was to be re-elected.

Urging the nation to face the potentially historic choice it has before it, Mas said:

Bahrain has convicted 23 medics who were involved in last year’s protest against the kingdom’s regime.

The medics were either sentenced to three months in prison or a fine.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for Simone Gbagbo for alleged crimes against humanity, urging her to surrender. 

Simone Gbagbo is a politician and the wife of the Ivory Coast's former president, Laurent Gbagbo, and campaigned for him during his presidential campaign.

Over 3000 people died in the elections' aftermath after Laurent Gbagbo disputed the election results.

Capitalising on his role in brokering a truce in the Israel-Gaza conflict, Egypt's President Mursi declared on Thursday that his decisions could not be challenged until a new constitution was agreed upon.

In a statement, the presidential spokesperson said:

“The President can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution.”

“The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws issued by the President are final and not subject to appeal.”

Nato has said it will look at Turkey’s request to deploy Patriot missiles along its border with Syria.

The bloc’s chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the request would be considered “without delay”.

Rasmussen said on Wednesday that he had received a request for the deployment on Wednesday.

If accepted, he said it would "augment Turkey's air defence capabilities" and "contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along Nato's south-eastern border".

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for sanctions to be placed on M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The passing of Resolution 2076, which was drafted by France, comes after rebels stormed Goma, the capital city of North Kivu province, despite UN combat helicopters assisting DRC forces.

The statement from the Security Council

The Kazakh government has moved towards a ban on the two opposition movements and media outlets supportive of the opposition, reported Reuters on Wednesday.

The leader of the Alga! party, Vladimir Kozlov, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years last month for an attempt to lead protesting workers to topple the government.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said that both movements propagated extremism.

After eight days of conflict, a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas took hold late on Wednesday evening, although distrust and singular attacks continued after the truce took effect at 9pm.

The deal has momentarily suspended the Israeli threat of a ground invasion of Gaza after bombing and rocket fire left 162 Gazans, including 37 children, and 5 Israelis dead.

Talking to a news conference in Cairo, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said:

The surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks was hanged in secret, the Indian government confirmed on Wednesday.

According to the Home Minister of Maharashtra, R.R. Patil, he was executed at 07:30am local time on Tuesday, after being moved in secret to Yerwada jail in Pune a few hours prior.

Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, a 25-year-old Pakistani, said to belong to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group was convicted over a year ago for his part in the attacks that killed 160 people.