British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that arming Syrian rebels cannot be ruled out.

Hague’s comment came after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad attacked Britain in an interview with the Sunday Times.

The US has pledged $450 million to Egypt in ordering to help improve the fragile Egyptian economy.

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is currently visiting Egypt, announced the assistance whilst stressing the need for "more hard work".

A United Nations official has welcomed a ruling in Cambodia's genocide tribunal that will allow crimes of sexual violence committed during the Khmer Rouge regime to be tried.

A Somalian court has dropped charges against a woman sentenced for alleging she was raped by security forces.

The woman was originally given a one-year jail sentence, alongside Abdiaziz Abdinur, the journalist who had interviewed her about her ordeal, for 'falsely accusing a government body of committing a crime that damages state security.'

The US Secretary of State John Kerry will urge the the need for political consensus in order to reach an IMF loan, reports Reuters citing a senior US official.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), led by Nato, has apologised for killing two Afghan boys, who were mistaken for insurgents.

A helicopter opened fire on the boys, who were herding cattle in Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan.

The al-Qaeda commander behind the Algerian hostage attack in January has been killed by Chadian soldiers in Mali, Chad's military said on Saturday.

In a statement read on national television, the army said:

A Japanese court has jailed two members of the US Navy for the rape of a Japanese woman on Okinawa.
Christopher Browning and Skyler Dozierwalker were sentenced to ten and nine years in prison respectively.

The judge at Naha district court said the sailors, who both pleaded guilty, were "contemptible and violent".

Pro-democracy activist, Zainab al-Khawaja has been sentenced by a Bahraini court to three months in jail for "insulting and humilating a public employee".

She received her sentence after a court of appeal overturned a previous aquittal.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Obama administration to ban antipersonnel landmines, on the Mine Ban Treaty's 14th anniversary.

The Mine Ban Treaty, which comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel landmines and requires their clearance and assistance to victims, entered into force in 1999, and was signed by 161 nations including the EU and all NATO members except the US.

A Rwandan born Dutch citizen has been found guilty of inciting genocide and has been sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison.

66-year old Yvonne Basebya was found guilty of inciting genocide in 1994, before moving to the Netherlands in 1998. She was cleared of other charges including perpetrating genocide, murder and war crimes.

The US pledged $60 million in non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition. Speaking in Rome after a 'Friends of Syria' meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US would now "extend food and medical supplies to the opposition, including to the Syrian opposition's Supreme Military (Council)."