The Filipino foreign minister Albert del Rosario said that he wants to pull out its UN peacekeepers from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, after four members of its forces were kidnapped by Syrian rebels.

"The people that abducted our peacekeepers were actually under siege and they are using our people to get themselves out of the situation they find themselves in. That thing is not for us,"

"We have sent a recommendation to the president and as soon as he says go, we will undertake to do that as soon as possible,'' del Rosario said.

A UN spokesperson said that efforts to secure their release were underway and the remaining peacekeepers had been moved from the observation post targeted by rebels from the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade on Tuesday.

Efraín Ríos Montt , the former Guatemalan dictator currently on trial facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity has denied all charges in his closing statement.

In an hour long rebuttal, Montt stated,

"I declare myself innocent… I never had the intention, the aim to destroy any national ethnic group… I am not genocidal."

He rejected the charge that he authorised plans to massacre indigenous people during rule from 1982-1983. Montt went on to claim that he had no control over troops who he said acted autonomously, adding,

"I never authorized, I never signed, I never ordered attacks against a race, an ethnic group or a religion. I never did!"

"I don't know what the squad leader did. I was the head of state.”

The prosecution though slammed Montt’s claims, presenting detailed plans of the chain of command, stating Lopez and his co-defendant, the former intelligence chief José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, must have had full knowledge of the military operations.

The Bank of China has closed down accounts belonging to North Korea's Foreign Trade Brank (FTB), reports The Times, in an effort to exert pressure on North Korea.

The US and South Korea have accused the FTB of being used by North Korea to illicitly trade in arms.

The move by China is considered to be unexpected, and follows weeks of lobbying by the US and other western states, urging China to exert pressure on North Korea and its nuclear programme. Last month the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Treasury Secretary, Jacob Lew, visited Beijing.

The British government has called on the EU to lift sanctions on the supply of weapons to the main Syrian opposition.

In a discussion paper circulated to other EU members, the UK proposed two options to change the sanctions, which are coming to an end at the end of the month.

The document says there was a strong argument in foavour of removing sanctions completely, but another option was to remove the words “non-lethal” from the list of items that fall under the exemptions, which would allow weapons to be sent to the Syrian National Council.

The UK is arguing that a strengthening of the “moderate” opposition would increase pressure for a political settlement.

On Tuesday the US and Russia came to an agreement to hold an international conference to explore solutions to the conflict, encouraging participation from the government and the opposition.

However, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad would play no role in a political solution to the conflict.

Speaking after a meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry said the US would work with Nasser to "effect a transition government by mutual consent of both sides, which clearly means that in our judgement President Assad will not be a component of that transitional government".

Spain’s Constitutional Court has declared that a sovereignty declaration passed by Catalan’s regional parliament earlier this year has been suspended, as pro-independence politicians vowed to push on.

The decision, made earlier this week, means that the Constitutional Court has suspended the declaration for the next five months, while they hear a central government appeal that claims it is illegal.

The declaration, passed in January, stated that the 7,5 million Catalan people were “politically and legally sovereign” and announced the start of “the process to bring about the exercising of the right to decide so that the citizens of Catalonia can choose their political, collective future”.

Despite labelling the court ruling as "very worrying and disappointing", Catalan regional Prime Minister Artur Mas has said the region would continue with plans for independence, as they look to create a commission to debate the process of a referendum.

Prominent British scientist Professor Stephen Hawking has withdrawn from a major Israeli conference to support the academic boycott of the country.

A statement by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine , released with Professor Hawking’s approval, said it was his own decision.

"This is his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there."

The Israeli Presidential Conference has had several prominent speakers in previous years, including Tony Blair, George W Bush and Henry Kissinger.

The Israeli ambassador to the UK expressed his disappointment with the decision.

"Rather than caving into pressure from political extremists, active participation in such events is a far more constructive way to promote progress and peace," he said.

Conference organisers were sharp in their criticism of the cosmologist.

"The academic boycott against Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission," conference chairman Israel Maimon said in a statement.

Pro-Palestinian groups welcomed the boycott of the conference and called on critics to respect Hawking’s decision.

"Many will be taken aback at the extreme reaction among Israel's supporters to the news of Prof Hawking's support for the Palestinian call for boycott,” said a spokesperson from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

"We urge those opposed to boycotts, disinvestment and sanctions to respect freedom of speech."

Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued an unofficial order to stop the approval of plans for new Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Yesha Council, a group that promotes settlement construction, also stated that it had heard from Neatnyahu’s office that new settlement tenders were not being approved.

Though there has been no official confirmation of the halt in settlement construction, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, commented, 

“A freeze in settlement construction within the 1967 borders and especially Jerusalem is the basis of starting any genuine and serious negotiations."

The United States president Barack Obama has been actively involved in establishing a new peace initiative between the two sides following his visit to the region in March.

Russia and the USA have been praised by the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, after both states agreed to holding an international conference to help find a political solution to the conflict in Syria.

On his first visit to Moscow since becoming the US Secretary of State, John Kerry met with Russian President Vladmir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which reportedly lasted over five hours. After the talks both Lavrov and Kerry held a joint press conference where they announced an international conference would be convened in the coming weeks to help end the conflict in Syria.

Kerry told reporters,

"Despite different points of view, committed partners can accomplish great things together when the world needs it... And this is one of those moments."

While both declined to discuss the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lavrov commented,

"We are not concerned by the fate of any individual. We are concerned by the fate of the Syrian people”.

The move was praised by the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who stated,

"This is the first hopeful news concerning that unhappy country in a very long time".

"The statements made in Moscow constitute a very significant first step forward. It is nevertheless only a first step".

British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to meet Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Kenyan rights groups have condemned the visit to the UK, saying the invitation is a betrayal.

Kenyatta is attending a conference on Somalia, held in London this week, with Kenya being an important stakeholder in the Horn of Africa, providing nearly 5,000 troops to the country.

UK officials have said that it is right for Kenya to be represented at the conference and noted that Kenyatta is cooperating with the ICC, unlike Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir.

Read more here.

Turkey has called on both Canada and France to weigh up their recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide against their trading relationships with the country in recent weeks, as they push for killings to not be labelled genocide.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız was speaking to reporters on Monday, stating that he hoped France would consider their stance on the killings, which they recognised as genocide, after France had penned a deal to help build Turkey’s second nuclear power plant. The deal, which would cost an estimated $22 million, will also see the French company Areva's Atmea reactors used.

Last year bids from two French firms to become involved in the construction of the power plants were rejected, in an apparent response to French bill outlawing the denial of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottaman Turks in 1915 as genocide.

Yildiz remarked to reporters,

“We unfortunately failed to bring about a rapprochement during the [former President Nicolas] Sarkozy term. …last week's deal is a positive step to see this happen”.
Earlier this year Turkey's ambassador to Canada called on the country to do the same in light of the $2.5 billion trade relationship between the countries.

Ambassador Tuncay Babali went on to say,

"I'm a true believer in the potential of our two nations. Canada has a lot to offer Turkey and Turkey in return has a lot to offer Canada”.

"It cannot be business as usual while accusing a nation of genocide. It's a serious allegation. It needs to be substantiated, legally, historically."

Carla Del Ponte of the UN independent commission of inquiry on Syria confirmed on Sunday that testimonies collected from casualties and medical staff suggest that Syrian rebels have used the nerve agent sarin. See here.

Speaking in Italian to a Swiss-Italian TV network Del Ponte said: 

"Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated,"

"This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities."

German police have arrested a man accused of being a guard at the notorious Auschwitz extermination camp during the Second World War.

Hans Lipschis, 93, claims he was only a cook but prosecutors concluded there was “compelling evidence” of his involvement in crimes.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre accused Lipschis of taking part in the mass murder of Jews between October 1941 and 1945.

"This is a very positive step, we welcome the arrest, I hope this will only be the first of many arrests, trials and convictions of death camp guards," the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Efraim Zuroff told AFP news agency.

Around 50 former Auschwitz guards are currently under investigation after new investigations were launched by Gemrna authorities.