The leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami party has been convicted of crimes against humanity by a war crimes tribunal in Dhaka.

Abdul Kader Mullah was found guilty of five charges, including murder, committed while collaborating with Pakistani forces during Bangladesh’s war of independence.

The US urged members of the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo on the Somalian government, citing stability within the state.

The embargo was imposed 21 years ago.

Last week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon asserted that the embargo should be lifted in order to aid Somalian security forces in their fight against al Shabaab militants.

The deputy UN ambassador for Somalia, Idd Beddel Mohamed, told Reuters:

"There are no Somali warlords that threaten peace and stability in Somalia,"

"They are normal citizens now, members of parliament. The embargo must be lifted."

Urging the Assad regime to enter into talks to avoid further violence, the leader of the Syrian opposition, Moaz Alkhatib, offered the regime a peaceful exit.

Suggesting the Assad regime's vice President, Farouq al-Shara, as a negotiator for the talks, Alkhatib said,

The leader of the Syrian opposition has met with both the Russian and Iranian Foreign Ministers, long-term allies of President Assad's regime, for the first time, as the conflict in Syria continues.

The Syrian opposition are to meet officials from the US and Russia on Saturday together in order to discuss political transition reports Reuters.

Farc rebels have killed three policemen in Maicao in the north of Colombia, officials say.

Violence has escalated since the end of a unilateral ceasefire by the rebels, which was not reciprocated by the Colombian government.

Bogota claims that 6 Farc members, including senior commander Jacob Arango, were killed in army operations on Thursday.

A three member human rights panel called on Israel to halt further settlement expansion, warning that it could be subject to prosecution as potential war crimes.

Palestian officials are to commence voter registration in the Gaza strip next month, allowing for elections.

The move comes following talks brokered by Egypt, where Hamas and Fatah agreed that voter registration would be a first step towards a national unity government.

The Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC) was previously banned from Gaza by Hamas.

Germany has reopened an inquiry into a massacre by SS soldiers in a village in France.

The troops killed 642 civilians in Oradour-sur-Glane, a village in occupied France, in June 1944.

60 soldiers stood trial in the 1950s, but all of the 20 convicted were later released.

Britain has agreed to deploy around 350 troops to West Africa to support French forces.

Up to 40 military advisers will train soldiers in Mali and another 200 will be sent to neighbouring countries to assist training there.

10 Downing Street said the UK was doing all it could to support the French intervention.

Burma has overturned a 1988 ban on public gatherings of more than 5 people in further moves to liberalise the country.

Buddhist monks held protest rallies in defiance of the law in December, after authorities cracked down on another protest in the previous month.