The British Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced that the UK has recognised the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Syrian people and that it is a “credible” alternative to the current regime.

"It is strongly in the interests of Syria, of the wider region and of the United Kingdom that we support them and deny space to extremist groups," he said to MPs.

Kosovo’s supreme court has ruled that a former rebel commander, now a senior politician and close ally of the Prime Minister, must face a retrial for war crimes six months after the case against him collapsed.

The former Chief Prosecutor at the Hague has criticised the release of two Croatian generals by the war crimes court, stating that it was “not justice”.

Speaking to the Serbian tabloid Blic, Del Ponte said she was “shocked” by their acquittal, adding,

Farc declared a two month unilateral ceasefire on Monday in Havana, Cuba, following landmark talks between Farc and the Colombian government.

Ivan Marquez, Farc's negotiator, said that they would halt all attacks from midnight on Monday, till 20th January.

While fighting intensifies in the Congolese city of Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo has out-ruled the prospect of negotiations with rebel group M23, dismissing the proposals as ‘blackmail’ from a Rwandan-backed group.

Speaking to the Associated Press, government spokesman Lambert Mende said:

A district court in Denmark has upheld a decision from the Danish Ministry of Justice to extradite a man to Rwanda, where he faces charges of genocide.

The 50-year-old unnamed suspect was unable to prove to the court that he would not face a fair trial in Rwanda and now faces extradition back to the country. He has appealed against the decision.

The newly formed National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces has been rejected by Islamist rebels in the country.

Around 13 organisations were listed in a video released on the internet, denouncing the new group.

"We are the representatives of the fighting formations in Aleppo and we declare our rejection of the conspiratorial project, the so-called national alliance," it says.

The United Nations chief, Ban Ki-Moon, is set to travel to Israel in order to intensify efforts to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Ban arrived in Cairo, Egypt amid international concern surrounding the volatility of the conflict situation. 

Following a visit to Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ban Ki Moon will meet with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, called for an end to the 67 day hunger strike of Kurdish prisoners in Turkey, raising speculation that an agreement had been found to end the protest.

In a statement, Ocalan's brother Mehmet said,

"Today I went to see my brother Abdullah Ocalan face-to-face in Imrali prison,"