A UN brokered accord has been signed by 11 african states in order to bring peace to the Democratic Re0ublic of Congo, which has been plagued by fighting between rebels and government forces.

The deal was signed in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the Ethipian capital Addis Ababa.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has given US special forces two weeks to leave Wardak province in the centre of Afghanistan.

Afghan soldiers with the US troops are accused of being behind disappearances and torture.

The US said it took all allegations seriously but could not comment on this issue "until we have had a chance to speak with senior government officials".

The Norwegian government has decided to extradite a Rwandan citizen back to the country, after having sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide, marking Norway's first such extradition.

The Cuban president Raul Castro announced that he would retire after his second term ends in 2018.

Castro made the announcement on Sunday during a speech broadcast nationally, saying, "this will be my last term".

The announcement came after the Cuban National Assembly elected him to a second five year term at the opening of the new parliament.

Syria's main opposition alliance, the National Coalition, said it had decided not to attend a summit of the Friends of Syria in Rome next month, and also turned down invitations for talks in Washington and Moscow.

In a statement, the coalition said:

The Iranian government has announced the discovery of new uranium deposits and said it will expand its nuclear programme.

The announcement comes a few days before talks with Western powers about sanctions over its development of nuclear technology.

Iranian media reported that the new finds have trebled Iran’s uranium reserves.

A US jury has found a Rwandan woman guilty of lying about her role in the country's 1994 genocide, leading to her citizenship being stripped.

43-year-old Beatrice Munyenyezi, who was on trial for lying on US government citizenship forms, was accused by the prosecution of having a "front-row seat" to the slaughter of Tutsis who killed and ordered rapes, playing an active role in the genocide.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Malian government to investigate and prosecute soldiers accused of committing torture, summary executions and other atrocities in the fight against Islamist militants in the country’s north.

The HRW report said its investigations had found that Malian troops had carried out several abuses against members of the Tuareg, Arab and Fula communities.

The Indonesian army has claimed that eight of its soldiers were killed in attacks by armed men in Papua.

Army spokesperson Jansen Simanjuntak told the BBC that two attacks in the district Puncak Jaya saw the soldiers ambushed with guns. Two of the attackers were also reported to have been killed.

The Zambian government has seized a Chinese coal mine, after it revoked the mine’s license over safety concerns.

The Zambian mining minister Yamfwa Mukanga said that the government would continue to run the Collum Coal mine until “suitable investor was found”.

Syria's opposition council has said that it is willing to negotiate a peace deal with the USA and Russia, on the condition that President Bashar al-Assad is not party to any settlement.

In a draft document, the opposition said:

The British prime minister David Cameron described the massacre of Indians at the city of Amritsar during colonial times was "deeply shameful", however he stopped short of a public apology.

The Prime Minister of Tunisia, Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after failing to form a new government of non-partisan technocrats.

Speaking at a news conference Jebali said:

"I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and ... I have already done so,"