The US Treasury has announced a further tightening of sanction on Iran, over its controversial nuclear programme.

It said it had blacklisted several companies and individuals connected to the programme, including several companies and banks acting as front organisations to help Iran get around existing sanctions.

More than 200 Syrians, mostly civilians have been killed in a village in the rebel dominated region of Hama according to opposition activists.

Residents told activist that helicopter gunships and tanks had bombarded Taramseh, before militiamen stormed the village and executed several civilians.

The regional opposition group said in a statement:

The Syrian ambassador to Iraq, Nawah al-Fares, has defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s government, declaring that he has joined “the ranks of the revolution of the Syrian people”.

Speaking on a video statement posted on Facebook, Fares is the first senior diplomat to quit the government.

The former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for recruiting and using child soldiers.

Lubanga pleaded not guilty but was convicted unanimously by judges in the International Criminal Court in March this year.

Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, marked a new phase in the struggle to bring democracy to the land, by making her historic first appearance in parliament.

‘I will try my best for the country’ she told AFP, as she embarked on her first day.

The highest court in Egypt has ruled to overturn a parliament order by President Mursi to reconvene parliament, after a military council dissolved it last month.

Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square to protest against the decision.

MPs met shortly for the first time today before the speaker adjourned the sitting.

The Egyptian military council has released a statement warning the new president Mohammed Mursi to uphold a court’s decision to dissolve parliament.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said it was confident that ‘all state institutions’ would respect the law and constitution.

International envoy, Kofi Annan said he agreed with President Assad for a reworked political approach to end the 16 month conflict in Syria.

In his third visit to Syria, the former UN chief, whose on the ground observers have been grounded due to escalating violence, said that he “stressed the importance of moving ahead with political dialogue, which the president accepted.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused the US, Saudia Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of backing “terrorists” trying to overthrow his government.

In an interview on Sunday with Germany’s ARD network, Assad said that he does not fear the same fate as Gaddafi or Mubarak, claiming that he was still in power because he had the support of his people and adding:

The student activists, who were arrested by Burmese authorities over plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a protest and subsequent crackdown by the government, have been released.

Around 300 people gathered in Rangoon on Saturday to mark the anniversary, despite the arrests.

Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi has ordered the country’s dissolved parliament to reconvene, a move which the Washington Post has described as “a bold stroke that will test the limits of the fledgling government’s power and provoke a co

The International Criminal Court will hand out its first ever sentence to the Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, for using child soldiers in his rebel army in 2002-2003.