The United Nations high commissioner for human rights has accused the Syrian regime’s shelling of cities and towns, causing the death of civilians as "crimes against humanity and possibly war crimes."

Addressing the opening of the 20th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Navi Pillay stated,

"We must make our utmost possible efforts to ensure accountability for all perpetrators, including those who have attacked UN observers in Syria,"

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have urged an immediate end to violence in Syria in a joint statement released on Monday, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Los Cabos Mexico.

The statement read:

"In order to stop the bloodshed in Syria, we call for an immediate cessation of all violence,

Early election results for Egypt's first democratically elected President, appeared to indicate that Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood defeated Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak’s former Prime Minister, by a margin of about 4 percentage points, or approximately one million votes.

Election results will only be confirmed later this week. However, a spokesperson for Shafik declared him the true winner and asserted that the Brotherhood had “terrorised voters” but offered no evidence for it.

Meanwhile, ruling generals have imposed martial law, as Brotherhood parliamentarians, refuting the authority of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) or the Supreme Court to dissolve the parliament on the eve of the election, vow to turn up to the chambers as scheduled on Tuesday.

Martial law grants the military power to detain and try civilians in military courts, and the ruling generals have suggested that this could be applied in the case that someone should try to enter the parliamentary building, which is currently guarded by soldiers and police to keep the lawmakers out.

In an interview with a Mexican newspaper, Reforma, the Chinese President Hu Jintao, urged G20 members to approach the European debt crisis in a "constructive and cooperative way, encourage and support efforts made by Europe to resolve it and send a signal of confidence to the market"

Hu said,

"In the current world economic environment, the G20 members should stick together in difficult times and pursue win-win cooperation."

The head of the United Nations observer mission to Syria has called on both sides to allow trapped civilians to leave the conflict zones.

In a statement issued on Sunday, General Robert Mood said:

“The parties must reconsider their position and allow women, children, the elderly and the injured to leave conflict zones, without any preconditions and ensure their safety,”

“This requires willingness on both sides to respect and protect the human life of the Syrian people,”

The International Criminal Court has sworn in the new chief prosecutor,  Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda earlier this week, who vowed to seek justice for victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

51-year old Bensouda becomes not only the first woman, but also the first African to lead the ICC, at a time when all 15 cases present at the court are African.

Taking up her 9-year term, Bensouda stated,

“First of all, let me say that yes, I am an African and I am very proud of that... But I am a prosecutor for 121 states parties.”

The UN observer mission to Syria has been suspended due to increasing violence.

The head of the mission, General Robert Mood, said on Friday that the observers would stay in their current locations and cease all monitoring activities.

In a statement, announcing the UNSMIS’s (UN Stabilisation Mission in Syria) suspension of operations, Gen Mood said:

Nine Bahraini doctors were sentenced for upto five years on Friday, for supporting anti-government protests in the country last year.

Formally accused of 'conspiring to overthrow the Bahraini monarchy', prosecutors charged that the doctors had spilt blood over patients to exaggerate injuries, and used a hospital and ambulances to aid the armed rebellion.

All the doctors denied the charges, stating that they were forced to sign confessions after being tortured.

21 years after she had been awarded the prize, Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi has accepted the Nobel Peace Prize at an awards ceremony in Oslo.

Accepting her award, Suu Kyi told the crowd,

"[The prize] made me real once again: it had drawn me back into the wider human community. And what was most important, the Nobel Prize had drawn the attention of world to the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. We were not going to be forgotten."

Citing evidence of Assad forces killing civilians in over 20 locations, Amnesty International accused the regime of committing war crimes on Thursday.

Publishing its findings in a 70-page report, Amnesty repeated its call on the UN security Council to refer Syria to the ICC.

Speaking to Reuters, Amnesty advisor Donatella Rovera, said: