The United Nations Security Council, today, approved plans to approximately double the UN peacekeeping force presence in South Sudan.

The 15 member council unanimously authorised an earlier request by the UN Secretery-General Ban Ki-moon to strengthen the UN mission in South Sudan to 12,500 troops.

"We want to rebuild and improve our relations to European and North American countries on a basis of mutual respect,"

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has apologised to the families of civilians killed in its attack on a military hospital, which left a total of 52 people dead.

The military leader of the group, Qasim al-Raymi, said in a statement that the combatant responsible had disobeyed orders not to attack medics and patients during the raid on a defence ministry compound at the beginning of December.

A dozen soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were convicted of sexual violence, a government official confirmed on Sunday.

In a statement released today, Reporters Without Borders, condemned the prison sentence, of a reporter from the Eleven Media Group, Ma Khine.

At least 14 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Benghazi, Libya.

The attack on a military checkpoint, on the outskirts of the city, is believed to be the first suicide attack in Libya since Gaddafi was overthrown in the 2011 uprisings.

The President of Cuba, Raul Castro, has said that Cuba and the US should respect their differences and both sides should work on improving relations, but called on the US to drop their demands for a regime change.

The Dutch Court of First instance has approved the extradition of a man suspected of taking part in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, to Rwanda where he will be put on trial.

China’s Defence Ministry has strongly denounced a Japanese five-year government approved strategy, that will see an increase in defence spending.

The trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at the International Criminal Court was dealt a heavy blow yesterday, after the chief prosecutor requested a delay in his trial acknowledging a lack of evidence.

US President Barack Obama has warned that South Sudan may return to the ‘dark days of its past’, in a letter to Congresss, as violence continues to grow in the world’s newest state.

Calling on the South Sudanese leaders to show “courage and leadership”, Obama stated,