President Juan Manuel Santos has met with members of the rebel ELN after they surrendered their arms. The second largest rebel force in the country has around 1,500 members and this is the largest ELN group to lay down their arms.

"This is what the [peace] process is about. So every member of the ELN and the Farc should fight for their ideals, but without violence nor arms,” Santos said during the meeting in the south-eastern region of Cauca.

The government is currently in peace-talks with the largest rebel group, FARC, whose chief negotiator said on Monday that the conflict was nearing its end.

"It is possible [to reach an agreement by November]. But to achieve peace you need time. A bad peace deal is worse than war," Ivan Marquez of FARC said to media.

The ELN is not currently a party to the talks but FARC is discussing unification with the group and called on other left-wing groups to join the process.

The US burger chain McDonald’s, one of the largest and most instantly recognisable brands in the world, is due to open their first branch in Vietnam in 2014.

Henry Nguyễn, the son-in-law of the leader of the Communist Party Nguyễn Phú Trọng, was awarded the franchise and the branch will open in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, which was the main base of the US military during the war, before it fell to the VietCong.

Mr Nguyen said to the BBC:

"I have dreamed of one day opening a McDonald's restaurant in my native country ever since my return to Vietnam more than a decade ago.

"I have been in contact with McDonald's over the years sharing the opportunity that exists in our country.''

The president of Panama Ricardo Martinelli has said that a ship, sailing under the North Korean flag, was found to be carrying military equipment when stopped on the Panama Canal.

The 35-member crew is reported to have resisted the boarding of the ship and the captain attempted to commit suicide.

"This material not being declared and Panama being a neutral country, a country in peace, that doesn't like war, we feel very worried about this war material and we don't know what else will have... passed through the Panama Canal." Martinelli said.

UN sanctions mean North Korea is not allowed to export or import weapons, other than the import of small arms.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today rejected European Union guidelines that banned member states from funding projects in Jewish settlements.

The new EU guidelines will ensure that Israeli settlements beyond the 1967 Green Line have no access to funding or prizes.

Responding to the new legislation, Netanyahu said,

“We shall not accept any external dictates on our borders. That is an issue that will be decided only in direct negotiations between the sides.”

An Israeli official also warned that the new legislation could hinder diplomatic efforts made by United States Secretary of State John Kerry to revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The Burmese president Thein Sein is due to visit the UK and will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Thein Sein will discuss trade, aid, democracy and human rights with the PM, but human rights organisations have urged Cameron to raise concerns about continuing violence against Muslims and repressive laws.

"Cameron should not miss an important opportunity to press Burma's president on justice for crimes against humanity committed against the country's Muslims, the release of remaining political prisoners, or an end to repressive laws," Human Rights Watch said.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said that Britain would press Burma to improve humanitarian access, address accountability for crimes and to end discrimination against the Rohingya.

"We want to recognise the remarkable reforms of the last 18 months but also to raise at the highest levels our ongoing concerns, particularly about inter-communal and anti-Muslim violence," he said.

The Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal today found, the former leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, Ghulam Azam,  guilty of, planning, conspiracy, incitement and complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1971 conflict.

Azam was sentenced to 90 years in prison. The verdict sparked unrest in the country, with members of the JI labelling the verdict as politically motivated attempts to persecute the party ahead of elections.

Senior government officials, described the trial as an essential effort to ‘deal with historical ghosts.'

The Congolese town of Kamango has been attacked by members of the Ugandan rebel Allied Democratic Forces on Thursday.

Over 30,000 were forced to flee the border town after the attack. The Congolese army has now retaken the town from the rebels.

The sudden movement of a large number of refugees caught the authorities and aid agencies, with many having to sleep outside, with no food available.

Read more here.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Nigeria on Sunday for an African Union summit on HIV/AIDS as his hosts chose to ignore an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him.

Commenting on Nigeria’s decision to allow Bashir entry,  Human Rights Watch International Justice Program director Elise Keppler said,

“Nigeria has the shameful distinction of being the first West-African country to welcome the ICC fugitive Sudanese President Sudan al-Bashir.”

“Al-Bashir is sought on the gravest crimes… and Nigeria’s hosting is an affront to victims – he belongs in custody.”

Nigeria’s presidential spokesperson responded to criticism stating,

“The Sudanese president came for an AU event and the Au has taken a position on the ICC arrest order, so Nigeria has not taken action different from the AU stand.”

Bashir is held responsible for orchestrating genocide during Sudan’s Darfur conflict , which resulted in the death of over 200,000 people. African nations such as Uganda , South Africa, Malawi and Zambia have refused Bashir entry after the indictment was made.

Violent clashes between street protesters and police erupted ahead of a court verdict against a prominent Islamist, Ghulam Azam, for allegedly orchestrating atrocities during the 1971 war against Pakistan.

The protesters claim that the charges made against Azam were false,  despite being described by prosecutors as an ‘architect’ of many atrocities in 1971.

The government maintains that trials are need to heal wounds of the 1971 war, which independent estimates state, resulted in the death of 500,000 people.

The head of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has called for more attacks on schools that teach “Western education”, in a video released this weekend supporting an attack that left 46 students dead earlier this month.

Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram (roughly translated to ‘Western education is sin’), stated,

"We fully support the attack on this Western education school in Mamudo".

He went on to add that,

"teachers who teach western education? We will kill them! We will kill them in front of their students, and tell the students to henceforth study the Qur'an".

Read the report from the Guardian here.

Shekau went on to deny all notion of a truce with the Nigerian government, after cabinet minister Kabiru Tanimu Turaki claimed to have been negotiating with the Islamist organisation. Shekau said,

“The claim that we have entered into a truce with the government of Nigeria is not true… We don't know Kabiru Turaki. We have never spoken with him. He is lying".

Read the report from the AFP here.

At least seven international peacekeepers have been killed and 17 wounded after coming under heavy fire from a large group of armed personnel in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The incident took place in a region where Tanzanian forces hold responsibility for keeping peace. Events in Darfur are very hard to verify as Sudan continues to severely restrict travel by journalists, aid workers and diplomats in the region.

“Speech after speech at the various (Orange) demonstrations were clearly designed to stir up sectarian tension and have alongside the Orange Order’s failure to abide by Parades Commission determinations led directly to the violence in Belfast tonight.”

“Responsibility for tonight’s violent attacks on police and the community rests with the leadership of the Orange Order, they are a disgrace.”