The Gambia has announced it has decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth in a statement on state television.

It said it had "decided that The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism".

The British Foreign Office has said it “very much regrets” the African state’s decision to withdraw.

In a letter addressed to the United Nations Security Council  today, Human Rights Watch urged members to use their visit to the Great Lakes region of Central Africa to help end human rights abuses and impunity for the worst crimes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

An Ecuadorian judge has ordered the arrest of 3 senior retired police and army officers, in the country’s first ever trial for crimes against humanity.

A further 7 officers have been placed under house arrest, as the country investigates allegations of torture, kidnapping and sexual violence, that occurred in 1985, against three members of a banned leftist opposition group.

The crimes were alleged to have occurred during late President Leon Febres Cordero’s rule from 1984 to 1988.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, today called for video games to punish crimes committed in battle by applying real-life international war conventions to the gameplay.

In a statement released today, the Red Cross said,

An arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court for a Kenyan journalist who is suspected to have attempted to influence witnesses.

Walter Barasa is alleged to have offered bribes to prosecution witnesses at the trial of Deputy President William Ruto.

"I have not gotten in touch with any witnesses or anybody having any intention of asking them or bribing them to pull out of the case," Barasa said according to Reuters reports.

This is the first time the ICC has issued a warrant for such an offence.

A former minister in Côte d’Ivoire has been issues with an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for allaeged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Charles Ble Goude is suspected of committing rape, murder, persecution and other inhumane acts during post-election violence that gripped the country between December 2010 and April 2011.

The warrant was issued in December 2011, but has only now been made public.

The president of the United Nations Security Council, Gary Quinlan, outlined that members were pressing for a follow up on last weeks chemical weapons resolution that demands immediate access to Syria for humanitarian aid.

The president said that the draft statement calls for the Syrian government to provide access to deliver aid in “the most effective ways, including across conflict lines and, where appropriate, across borders from neighbouring countries,” whilst condemning the widespread violations of human rights by both sides.

The Rwandan government has formally requested the extradition of a  suspected Rwandan Hutu militia leader from the Netherlands, over his alleged role in the country’s 1994 genocide.

A Dutch court will now consider the decision to extradite the suspect, identified only as "Jean-Claude I.", who was arrested in July of this year.

Dutch prosecutors stated,

"I. is being suspected of being an armed leader of the Interahamwe who participated in attacks on Tutsis."

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has expressed his concern over Buddhist violence in Burma and Sri Lanka, and once again called on Buddhists to put it to an end.

Speaking to his devotees on the first day of his teachings on Nagarjuna’s Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning, The Dalai Lama said,

“Earlier there were crisis among Buddhist and Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka. Burmese monks were even regarded as terrorists and it is very sad,”

“Recently, I visited Prague, Czech Republic to attend Forum 2000 and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was also there. I spoke with her and she was really concerned,”

“Have faith in your own religion but respect all other religions,”

Earlier this year the Dalai Lama issued a similar appeal, saying,

"Killing people in the name of religion is really very sad, unthinkable, very sad."

"Nowadays even Buddhists now involved, in Burma and Sri Lanka also. Buddhist monks ... destroy Muslim mosques or Muslim families. Really very sad."

The Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has announced wide-ranging reforms, including the granting of more rights to Kurds and the removal of the headscarf ban.

Erdogan said towns will be able to use their Kurdish names and education in the Kurdish language would be allowed in private schools, although it would still be restricted in state schools. He has also proposed to change the rule that currently requires parties to receive more than 10% of votes before being able to enter parliament, which has excluded Kurdish parties.