The Iranian government has said it will accept foreign aid from certain countries after an earthquake devastated cities and killed over 300 in the north-west of the country on Saturday.

For two days Iran insisted it was not in need of foreign assistance.

However, after scathing criticism at home over the slow response, the Iranian government has now said it will accept offers of aid.

A UN report on the Syrian conflict published on Wednesday, concluded that President Assad’s forces and pro-government Shabiha fighters are were responsible for perpetrating most of the war crimes and crimes against humanity on Syrian civilians.

The report held the government and its allied militia were responsible for the killing of more than a 100 civilians in May and indicated that murders, unlawful killings, torture, sexual violence and indiscriminate attacks indicated “the involvement at the highest levels of the armed security forces and the government."

The panel also acknowledged that anti-government armed groups had committed war crimes including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, but noted that these crimes were of a lesser frequency and scale.

A senior aide to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has flown to China to discuss the crisis.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that Bouthaina Shaaban would meet foreign minister Yang Jiechi later today.

In a statement he said that China had always "actively balanced its work between the Syrian government and the opposition".

He repeated China's call for the "practical implementation" of former UN envoy Kofi Annan's defunct peace plan and for "an immediate ceasefire".

The UN has started to deliver airdrops of food aid to refugee camps in the South Sudan border region, where refugees from Sudan have sought safety.

Over 170,000 people are believed to have fled Sudan according to the UN World Food Program (WFP).

The Country Head of WFP in South Sudan, Chris Nikoi told Reuters,

A former Israeli soldier has been sentenced to 45 days in prison for the killing of a Palestinian mother and her daughter, after avoiding manslaughter charges.

US officials have informed reporters that they expected changes in the military after the election of President Mursi.

"We had expected President Mursi at some point to co-ordinate changes in the military leadership, to name a new team," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has agreed to suspend Syria from the body, according to an OIC source.

The source told Reuters that foreign ministers agreed to the suspension at a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday.

"The session just ended. The ministers adopted the resolutions, including the suspension of Syria," the source told Reuters.

Iran opposed the suspension from the 57-member body.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged for a continued ‘flexible UN presence in Syria’ after the end of the current observer mission.

"A continued UN presence in Syria that goes beyond our important humanitarian work would allow systematic and meaningful engagement with the Syrian stakeholders, inside the country," the UN chief said in a letter on Friday to the 15 members of the UN Security Council.

"Furthermore, a flexible UN presence in Syria would provide the UN impartial means to assess the situation on the ground.