The US government will resume full military aid to the Egyptian regime, which was suspended after the military coup in 2013 which saw then-head of the army Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi come to power.

Mr al-Sisi was informed in a phone call from President Barack Obama that F-16 fighter jets, missiles and M1A1 tank kits would be delivered.

"The president explained that these and other steps will help refine our military assistance relationship so that it is better positioned to address the shared challenges to US and Egyptian interests in an unstable region, consistent with the longstanding strategic partnership between our two countries," the White House said in a statement.

The statement said President Obama expressed his concerns about human rights abuses in Egypt.

Palestine has formally joined the International Criminal Court, an important step to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.

The Palestinian Authority signed the Rome Statute in January became the 123rd member of the ICC at a low-key ceremony in The Hague on Wednesday, attended by Foreign Minister Riad Malki.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch urged pressure by governments seeking to penalise the Palestinians for joining the ICC to end.

Muhammadu Buhari will be Nigeria’s new president, winning the election by 2.1mn votes over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, according to Reuters.

President Jonathan is reported to have called and congratulated Mr Buhari for his election victory.

Nigeria's opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) declared the victory for former military ruler Mr Buhari and said hailed the historic democratic transfer of power.

"The people of Nigeria have taken over," an ecstatic APC spokesman Lai Mohammed told Reuters.

"This is the first time in Nigeria that a sitting government will be voted out of power using purely democratic means."

In a ceremony today negotiators for the government of Myanmar and 16 ethnic rebel groups signed a ceasefire accord aimed at ending over sixty years of armed conflict. The agreement now has to be taken by negotiators to respective leaders of the rebel groups for final approval.

The Union Peace Working Committee (government’s negotiating team) and Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (representing the 16 ethnic armed groups) have agreed on the text of this Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) after over a year of negotiations involving seven rounds of talks.

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein who was in attendance at the ceremony today said that signing the agreement “opens the door for political dialogue and also further peace talks.”

Japanese sanctions on North Korea will be extended for two more years, due to a lack of progress during talks on Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang.

North Korea says it has returned everyone who was still alive but Japan disputed this.

The US and the UK have expressed concern about political interference in Nigeria’s elections as presidential challenger Muhammadu Buhari recorded huge victories in key northern states.

Mr Buhari, a northern Muslim is going up against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, who is a Christian from the south of the country.

The challenger won 1.9 million votes in Kano against 216,000 for Jonathan and recorded victories in other northern states, however it is too early to forecast a result, in one of the most closely contested elections in years.

An air strike on a camp for people displaced by fighting in Yemen has killed at least 40 people on Monday, Reuters reports.

The attack near Haradh, which seemed to have been targeted at a nearby Houthi rebel base, was blamed on the rebels by Yemen’s foreign minister, Riyadh Yassin.

However Yemen's state news agency Saba, which is currently under the control of the Houthis, said the camp was hit by Saudi planes.

Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against Houthi rebels last week, after rebels increased the territory they held.

The capital Sanaa, held by the rebels since December, was hit by the Saudi air force throughout the day. Houthi fighters meanwhile are getting closer to the southern port city of Aden, the last major stronghold of the supporters of President Hadi.

“Civilians freed from the brutality of Daesh [IS] should not have to then fear their liberators. One form of violence cannot replace another.”

Talks with Iran on its nuclear programme are intensifying as the deadline for a deal at the end of the month draws close.

The talks, attended by Iran and the P5+1 group, the US, China, Russia, France, the UK and Germany, are intended to seek a deal to prevent Iran from seeking a nuclear agreement.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry and his German and French counterparts have cancelled their travel plans for the last few days of the talks, in order to push for a resolution ahead of the March 31 deadline.

Iran, which denies it is pursuing nuclear weapons, is hoping to achieve the lifting of international sanctions through a deal.

US officials said all parties, including Iran, had agreed "there needs to be a phased step by step reciprocal approach", so that Iran's steps to scale back its nuclear programme are met with a phased lifting of sanctions, the BBC said.

A Somalian diplomat was among at least 20 people who died when Al Shabaab militants launched an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu.

The Maka al-Mukarama Hotel was targeted by a car bomb on Friday evening, before being stormed by armed suicide bombers, who all died in the attack.

Security forces retook the hotel on Saturday morning. Somalia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Yusuf Mohamed Bari Bari died in hospital, after being admitted with serious injuries.

Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Mareye led a government delegation to the scene on Saturday morning.

The Nigerian elections continued for a second day, after technical problems hit around 300 polling stations.

About 300 out of around 150,000 were affected by the glitch, which left voters, including President Goodluck Jonathan, unable to cast their vote.