After meeting with India’s Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised the country for cutting down on its crude oil imports from Iran.

A South African court has ordered prosecutors to investigate Zimbabwean officials accused of torturing opposition figures in 2007.

The judge said South Africa has a duty under international law to investigate crimes against humanity.

The RAF (Royal Air Force) is to use a Russian base in the transfer of military hardware from Afghanistan as British soldiers pull out, reported The Times.

The Eurozone's austerity measures came under scrunity this weekend as markets reacted to elections in France and Greece.

In France, the socialist François Hollande who campaigned pledging to re-negotiate the austerity measures and stimulate economic growth, was elected to succeed Nicholas Sarkozy. Following his victory, Hollande said, “Austerity need not be Europe’s fate.”

Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as President of Russia for the third time on Monday, as anti-Putin protesters took to the streets of Moscow.

Riot police arrested anyone wearing white ribbons, a symbol of anti-Putin activists, as they raided nearby cafes and restaurants in search of protesters.

The leader of the far-right Golden Dawn party, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, warned that the movement would spread across Europe after his party won 21 seats in the Greek parliament.

Addressing reporters after the vote, who were forced to stand to welcome his presence, Michaloliakos shouted,

The Chinese newspaper, The Beijing News, appeared to offer an apology for its editorial which criticised the US and the Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, after widespread outcry by the Chinese public. 

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Chinese dissidents Chen Guangcheng is expected to be allowed to leave China, according to US officials.

China earlier said in a statement released by its foreign ministry that Chen could apply to study abroad like other citizens.

"Chen Guangcheng is currently being treated in hospital," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, said on Friday.

The governments of Austria and The Netherlands announced that ministers would be boycotting the Euro 2012 football tournament, being co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland, due to Ukraine's treatment of the imprisoned former prime minister, Yuliya Tymoshenko.

Austria said the decision was a "mark of solidarity" with Tymoshenko.

Prosecutors have urged the Special Court for Sierra Leone to sentence former Liberian president Charles Taylor to 80 years imprisonment.

Sudan has pledged to end fighting with South Sudan and abide by the terms of aUN resolution passed yesterday.

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution threatening to impose sanctions on Sudan and South Sudan.

The resolution, drafted by the US, called for the Sudans to resume talks on disputed issues within two weeks.