A North Korean boat strayed into its southern neighbour's waters and was fired at, according to Yonhap news agency.

South Korea's navy fired five shots at the North Korean boat, when it crossed the disputed maritime border between the countries.

Pyongyang said the shooting was a "serious provocation". Its official KCNA news agency said the boat was conducting a "routine" operation.

The Free Syrian Army has rejected offers of military support from the Russian government, stating that they could not be trusted.

A spokesperson for the western-backed rebel alliance told the BBC that Moscow's help was not needed.

"[Russian President] Vladimir Putin, is assisting a regime that indiscriminately kills their own people," Issam al-Reis said.

"How could we trust the Russians' help?"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has responded to controversial comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by saying that Germany was responsible for the Holocaust, in which millions of Jews were killed by Germany during the Second World War.

Mr Netanyahu had claimed that Adolf Hitler only wanted to expel Jews from Europe, and that it was Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini who told him: "Burn them."

The United States will not turn a blind eye to shortcomings in Myanmar’s election next month said a top US diplomat for Asia.

Speaking in a congressional hearing in Washington, Assistance Secretary of State Daniel Russel said that the US was “deeply, deeply concerned” about the treatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya Musllim population.

The China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) reached a deal with the mainly state owned EDF  Energy for a new nuclear power plant in Somerset on Wednesday.

The deal will see the Chinese corporation pay a third of the cost for the new power plant which is expected to cost £18bn.

The European Court of Human Rights stated that a Turkish politician who was convicted for denying the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire was genocide was wrongly prosecuted.

The ECHR ruled that Dogu Perincek had not called for "hatred or intolerance" when he stated "the Armenian genocide is a big fat lie" in 2005.

He had initially been sentenced by a Swiss court for racial discrimination for 2007.

The Liberal Party of Canada claimed victory in the country’s elections on Monday evening, ending almost a decade of Conservative party rule.

The party managed to form a majority government having won 184 seats, having started the campaign in third place.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Palestinians and Israel to step away from escalating conflict on a snap visit into the region.

Stating that the violence was undermining Palestine’s hope for statehood and long term stability in the region, the UN Secretary General said,

Algeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations Boukadoum Sabri reiterated that the Western Saharan conflict been be solved by ensuring the Saharawi people’s “fundamental right” to self-determination.

Addressing a debate of the Committee on Special Political Decolonisation of the United Nations, Mr Sabri said,