Clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo have left five killed and eight injured, reports Reuters.

Violence reportedly broke out when Christian children were found drawing on the walls of a Muslim institute. As well as shooting and fighting several residential and commercial buildings were burned including a child-care centre.

The president's office in a statement said:

South Sudan has restarted oil production in the country, more than a year after it stopped operations with its neighbour Sudan.

A deal was inked last month that allowed the resumption of production after the two countries came close to war over the disagreement. Production was halted 14 months ago after disputes over oil revenues.

First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond has stated that he would be open to an independent Scotland being home to US military bases, as long as they were non-nuclear, reported the Scotsman.

Speaking on a visit to New York, Salmond stated he had held talks with US officials, regarding NATO membership for an independent Scotland. He went on to say,

An obscure constitutional clause has been invoked in Pakistan to bar candidates from election, including former president Pervez Musharaff.

The clause involved subjecting candidates to rigorous tests on religious credentials and 'moral character', after which dozens of candidates were ruled out and hundreds more await 'verification'.

Another high profile figure to be disqualified from running is Ayaz Amir, a newspaper columnist, who was rejected on the basis of having written articles deemed to have encouraged alcohol consumption.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has asked Mali’s government to start a reconciliation process in the country hit by civil war.

Fabius said Mali would continue to receive military assistance from France and called for elections by July.

"There's an unanimous desire for the elections to happen as planned and the date agreed was for July.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has suspended their food program in Gaza after demonstrators stormed a compound, protesting against cuts to a cash assistance program.

A spokesperson for the agency, Adnan Abu Hasna, stated,

“There will be no food tomorrow… The food distribution centers and the relief offices will be closed in the coming days unless there’s a real security being provided to the life of our staff, because there is a great concern about their safety.”

The Enough Project and Satellite Sentinel Project have released a new report detailing evidence of Sudan carrying out war crimes and crimes against humanity in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile region, and called on the International Criminal Court to further investigate the situation.

The report also calls on the United Nations to "immediately establish an impartial commission of inquiry", adding,

A reward of up to $5 million will be awarded by the US for information that leads to the arrest of wanted Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, under the War Crimes Rewards Program.

The US and Uganda suspended the search for Kony in the Central African Republic after last month’s coup.

The UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy to Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, who is currently on tour of the region met with the Algerian Foreign minister on Monday.

Following his earlier visit of Sahrawi refugee camps, Ross said he would be "seeking solutions to the Western Sahara issue in line with the Security Council's resolutions."

He added,