The United States government has cautioned Kenyan voters against electing a president who has been summoned by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Former CIA director nominee John Brennan today faced questioning at a Senate confirmation hearing about US drone strikes.

Mr Brennan said that drone attacks were only ever a last resort and refuted claims that strikes were used as punishments for past offences.

The Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, has told the BBC's HardTalk programme, that the organisation is in talks with the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas regarding a national unity government, and presidential and parliamentary elections. 

Meshaal said:

The Tunisian prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, announced on Wednesday that the country would form a new government of non-partisan technocrats until elections could be held.

The sudden announcement came after killing of a leading opposition figure and anti-Islamist politican, Chokri Belaid. Belaid was shot in the head and neck in Tunis.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has stated that the people of the Falkland Islands must “decide their own future”, after meeting with the island’s representatives.

Speaking after meeting members of the islands’ legislative assembly, Hague said,

Syria’s besieged President Bashar Al-Assad has slammed Israeli airstrikes on an alleged arms convoy in the country, accusing Israel of attempting to destabilise the country.

The leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami party has been convicted of crimes against humanity by a war crimes tribunal in Dhaka.

Abdul Kader Mullah was found guilty of five charges, including murder, committed while collaborating with Pakistani forces during Bangladesh’s war of independence.

The US urged members of the UN Security Council to lift the arms embargo on the Somalian government, citing stability within the state.

The embargo was imposed 21 years ago.

Last week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon asserted that the embargo should be lifted in order to aid Somalian security forces in their fight against al Shabaab militants.

The deputy UN ambassador for Somalia, Idd Beddel Mohamed, told Reuters:

"There are no Somali warlords that threaten peace and stability in Somalia,"

"They are normal citizens now, members of parliament. The embargo must be lifted."

Urging the Assad regime to enter into talks to avoid further violence, the leader of the Syrian opposition, Moaz Alkhatib, offered the regime a peaceful exit.

Suggesting the Assad regime's vice President, Farouq al-Shara, as a negotiator for the talks, Alkhatib said,