The Burmese government has announced it will allow privately owned newspapers for the first time in 50 years.

The information ministry said it will take applications by Burmese citizens from February 2013 and would permit the publication in any language from April.

British Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt, has criticised Israel’s announcement of new settlements, stating that they are in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

In a statement released earlier this week Burt said,

The Russian government is urging Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to engage with the opposition.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia still refuses to support calls for Assad to step down but pressed Assad to consider all options to end the conflict.

Russia's invitation for peace talks has been rejected by Syria's opposition leader, dampening international hopes for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Talking on Al Jazeera TV, Moaz Alkhatib said:

Swiss campaign groups have welcomed efforts by the government in attempting to track down and prosecute war criminals, with the creation of a dedicated task force earlier this year.

The director of Geneva-based ‘Track Impunity Always’ (Trial) Philip Grant hailed the move, saying,

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) warned the M23 armed movement on Friday, that anyone attacking UN helicopters would face prosecution as a war criminal.

The Rwandan Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga has threatened that Rwanda may have to take France to court over their failure to arrest known fugitives, accused of crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide.

The National Public Prosecution Authority says that at least 21 indicted Genocide suspects are currently in France.

The Special Chamber of the High Court of Rwanda has rejected the demands of a deported genocide suspect from Canada, asking to court to nullify his case.

Leon Mugesera, who was removed from Canada earlier this year after losing a deportation battle that lasted nearly 20 years, questioned the mandate of the court, claiming they had no jurisdiction to try his alleged crimes, which occurred in 1992.

The Central African Republic's president appeal for help in pushing back a rebel offensive has been rejected by France who have said that their troops can only protect French nationals.

President Francois Bozize made the appeal to France and the USA as rebel fighters close in just 75km away from the capital city. Bozize said,

The former minister of Argentina, Felisa Miceli, has been sentenced to four years in prison on charges of corruption and has been barred from public office for eight years.

The court deemed that she have covered up an illegal financial dealing, and was obstructing justice.

The Iranian government has stated that they have fended off a number of cyber attacks on a power plant and other industries located in the south of the country.

The Israeli government has approved the development of a further 1,242 homes in and around the city of Jerusalem, in a massive new wave of expansion.

The homes are set to be built controversially over the dividing green line in Gilo that split Arab and Israeli territory before the Six Day War in 1967.