The African National Congress (ANC) has taken a decisive lead in South Africa’s elections, press reports said Thursday.

With 80% of the results in, the ANC has 63% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%. Turnout was just over 72%. See the BBC’s report.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into photos that emerged, showing at least one British soldier with a dead Taliban fighter.

Two members of the RAF have already been withdrawn from frontline duties.

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

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 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

The UK today pledged to send a small team of experts to Nigeria to aid the search for over 200 abducted schoolgirls.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron, who spoke to Nigeria’s president, Wendesday, condemned the act as ‘pure evil.’

The experts who will be on the ground within a few days will provide planning and advice on co-ordination to Nigerian authorities, reports the BBC.

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

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 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.

Burma’s government should immediately end arbitrary arrests of journalists and ensure that media laws promote a free press, said Human Rights Watch on World Press Freedom Day.

Citing several cases of arbitrary detention, the Human Rights Watch deputy Asia Director, Phil Robertson, said,

Ukrainian police headquarters in Odessa were stormed to free pro-Russian protestors that were detained in an Ukrainian offensive on a barricaded government building, reports The Telegraph.

The pro-Russian protestors were greeted by crowds of people as Ukrainian police were forced to let them free.