The US has followed Australia and the UK in easing pressure against Burma in order to encourage democratic reforms by the government.

The US treasury department announced that non-governmental organisations will now be able to carry out some humanitarian, religious and other non-profit activities.

Arab League ministers urged the Assad regime to cooperate fully with the UN's ceasefire monitors.

In a statement issued at a meeting between the Arab League and Kofi Annan (UN- Arab League special envoy to Syria), the Arab League said,

The UN Security Council voted unanimously in favour of sending a team of upto 30 unarmed military observers to Syria, in order to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire. A further deployment of UN ceasefire monitors was expected Sunday. In a resolution, the Security Council urged the Syrian government to ensure the safety of UN staff.

North Korea acknowledged that its recent rocket launch into orbit had been unsuccessful, on Friday. The rocket was in the air for a minute and a half, shorter than its previous launch, before exploding in midair. The debris from the rocket landed 165 km west of Seoul.

The UN Security Council expressed concerned over the increasing violence between South Sudan and Sudan, deeming such violence to be "a serious threat to international peace and security".

In a statement released Thursday, the UN Security Council urged both states to establish a Safe Demilitarized Border Zone and initiate a Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism.

Extracts reproduced below:

"The Security Council expresses its deep and growing alarm by the escalating conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, as manifested most recently by the seizure and occupation of the town of Heglig and its oil fields in Sudan by the SPLA. The recent violence threatens to return both countries to full-scale war and the period of tragic loss of life and suffering, destroyed infrastructure, and economic devastation, which they have worked so hard and long to overcome."

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a suspension of EU sanctions on Burma, in recognition of its continuing democratic reforms, during the first visit by a British head of state since Burma’s independence in 1948.

Mr Cameron was speaking in Rangoon, where he met President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

US President Barack Obama has approved an aid package for Syria's rebels, a US official said on Friday. The package will include communications equipment and medical supplies.

India has overtaken China as the top customer of Iranian oil in data published by Geneva's Petrologistics.

India imported 433,000 barrels per day in the first quarter, an increase of around 23% compared ot the same period in 2011.

A day before his historic visit to Burma, Prime Minister David Cameron has praised Burma’s progress in implementing democratic reforms and said the UK may ease sanctions on the country.

Cameron said recent developments in Burma were welcome but he wanted to see the ground situation himself, to assess whether the progress was ‘irreversible’.

The first day of a tense cease fire in Syria has passed without major incidents.

The UN is currently preparing a team of monitors to assess the situation on the ground and determine whether a full mission is possible.

UN special envoy Kofi Annan said he was ‘encouraged’ but pointed out that Syria did not fully comply with the cease fire plan put forward by him.

The Syrian city of Homs faced further violence as the extended ceasefire deadline approaches.

Opposition activists have said that at least 30 people were killed as the Assad regime launched furhter offensives on the city.

As the Assad regime failed to put in place an agreed six-point plan towards a ceasefire by the agreed deadline of 10th April, today, the UN-Arab League envoy to the region, Kofi Annan, expressed grave concerns to the UN Security Council.

Addressing Security Council members, Annan said,

Expressing scepticism at an extended ceasefire deadline given to the Assad regime, the UK Foreign Sectretary, William Hague, expressed further cyncism and warned that the regime would be held accountable.

Hague said,

The US announced plans to lift the travel ban on senior leaders from Myanmar, and ease sanctions on American investment in the country, on Wednesday.

The United States Agency for International Development office will be reopened, paving the way to increased foreign assistance, and the first American ambassador to the country since 1990 will be named.