Human Rights watch have slammed air strikes by the Syrian government stating they are “serious violations of international humanitarian law”, in their latest report released earlier this week.

The 80-page report, entitled “Death from the Skies: Deliberate and Indiscriminate Air Strikes on Civilians”, found that the Syrian government had deliberately been targeting civilians in air strikes carried out during the country’s conflict.

Ole Solvang, a Human Rights Watch emergencies researcher, said,

“In village after village, we found a civilian population terrified by their country’s own air force… These illegal air strikes killed and injured many civilians and sowed a path of destruction, fear, and displacement.”

“The Security Council, largely due to the Russian and Chinese veto, has failed to take any meaningful steps to help protect civilians in Syria… But that should not stop concerned governments from stepping up their own efforts to press the Syrian government to end these violations.”

The report documented the use of cluster munitions and incendiary weapons by the Syrian government, noting they could only access sites held by the Syrian opposition as the government continued to deny access to the rest of the country.

The report also noted that whilst the Free Syrian Army and other armed groups “did not take all feasible measures to avoid deploying forces and structures such as headquarters in or near densely populated areas… an attacking party is not relieved from the obligation to take into account the risk to civilians from an attack on the grounds that the defending party has located military targets within or near populated areas”.

Secretary of State John Kerry has renewed a US pledge to support South Korea against its hostile northern neighbour, after talks in Seoul with President Park Geun-hye and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

Kerry said at a press conference with President Geun-hye that South Korea and the US were "very much aligned and very supported of each others' positions" and added that the international community was "all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power".

"The rhetoric that we're hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable - by any standard - and I am here to make it clear today on behalf of President Obama and the citizens of the United States and our bilateral security agreement, that the United States will, if needed, defend our allies and defend ourselves."

He said the US had “lowered its rhetoric” in order to find a way for "reasonableness to prevail".

Secretary Kerry will travel on to Beijing, where he is expected to urge the Chinese government to use its influence, adding that it is "clear to everybody in the world that no country in the world has as close a relationship or as significant an impact on [North Korea] than China".

The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo has suspended 12 of its senior officers over incidents of mass rape last November.

The UN gave the country an ultimatum last month, saying it would suspend cooperation with brigades unless action was taken against those involved.

"The commanding officers and deputy commanding officers of two units, as well as the commanding officers of eight other units, have been suspended and put at the disposal of the military prosecutor," the Reuters news agency quotes spokesperson, Kieran Dwyer.

"It is a signal of the commitment of the Congolese authorities, but we need them to follow through and hold accountable those who carried out these terrible crimes," he told the AFP.

The two brigades concerned are accused by the UN of having committed at least 126 rapes in the city of Minova, while fleeing from advancing rebels.

The BBC was told by soldiers that senior officers had ordered the rapes to be carried out.

"We'd lost all hope. We weren't thinking like human beings," a soldier told BBC Newsnight.

"It's true that we raped here... You see her, you take her away and have your way with her. Sometimes you kill her, when you finish raping her then you'll kill the child. You rape and carry on," another soldier said.

A staff sergeant said they were ordered to rape by superiors:

"The commander gave us an order and he was the one who started to do it."

On Thursday, the G8 announced a historic pledge to fight the use of rape as a weapon of war, promising to provide $35m (£22.7m) to deal with the problem.

The trial of soldiers accused of abuse began today in Côte d’Ivoire. Whilst welcoming the beginning of the trial a "positive development", Human Rights Watch drew attention to the fact that "little progress has been made in investigating the most politically sensitive cases involving government forces."

In a statement, HRW urged Ivorian authorities to "strengthen support for prosecuting those implicated in serious international crimes during the 2010 and 2011 post-election violence" and "investigate and prosecute any soldiers involved in the July 2012 attack on the Nahibly displaced persons camp" as well as "in the cruel and inhuman treatment of detainees in August and September."

Violence broke out after the 2010 presidential election, after the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo lost to Quattara's RDR party.

A convicted Macedonian war criminal has received a massive welcome from tens of thousands of people, after serving an 8 year sentence for war crimes committed during the country’s conflict with ethnic Albanians.

Former police officer Johan Tarculovski was found guilty by a UN tribunal for the murder of three ethnic Albanian civilians, to which he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released from a German jail after serving 8 years.

Billboards and posters bearing the words “Welcome home Johan” were seen amongst the tens of thousands who had gathered outside the country’s airport in Skopje, in anticipation of his return, which was broadcast live on television.

Former interior minister, Pavle Trajanov, said in an interview,

"Macedonians have never accepted the U.N. tribunal findings that only Macedonians were responsible for the conflict".

Tarculovski told supporters,

“I express my gratitude to all those who gave their lives and defended Macedonia… Thank you all for the support. It meant everything to me. Long live Macedonia.”

Meanwhile an ethnic Albanian political analyst, Albert Musliu stated,

“I would understand if his return was celebrated by his family, friends, and fellow fighters from 2001… The question is whether all this deserved such a huge celebration that included government officials. I’m a little disappointed that such celebration was held for the man who was sentenced for war crimes against civilians of this country.”

See the report from the AP here.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the crisis, US President Barack Obama called on North Korea to end its 'belligerent approach' on Thursday as US intelligence concluded that the country has a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by ballistic missiles.

The US has threatened to shoot down any North Korean missiles appearing to be targeted at Us territories or allies.

Although the President said that the US would take all measures required to protects its people, Obama told reporters:

"Nobody wants to see a conflict on the Korean peninsula. But it's important for North Korea, like every other country in the world, to observe the basic rules and norms that are set forth, including a wide variety of UN resolutions,"

Seethe Guardian for full story.

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has rejected the President's idea of an amnesty based on a claim of no wrongdoing on their behalf.

The believed leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau made the announcement via an audio statement, in which he is quoted as saying:

"Surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you [a] pardon."

Shekau further added that it was the Nigerian government committing atrocities against Muslims.

See the BBC for full report.

The South Korean government has raised its alert level to “vital threat”, amidst further escalation in tensions with North Korea.

US and South Korean sources have reported that at least one ballistic missile is fuelled and ready to be launched, indicating that Pyongyang is preparing for another missile test.

Read more here.

Five Indian troops were killed in South Sudan while escorting a UN convoy in Jonglei state.

The office of the Secretary General said that the peacekeepers, serving with the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (Unmiss), were killed during an attack by rebels, along with two Unmiss national staff and five civilian staff contractors.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that he was "appalled" by the attack in Gumuruk, and called on "the government of South Sudan to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice".

Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Bharaini police had arrested 20 opposition activists in the towns near Bahrain’s Formula One circuit in a sign of rising political tension before the Grand Prix in April.

The Grand Prix is the biggest sporting event hosted by the country and the government is hoping to get a big turnout this year despite continuing unrest and dissent over the current leadership.

The HRW statement said that detentions were made without a warrant and with the intention of preventing a repeat of last year’s protests which received worldwide attention.

The Syrian government has rejected attempts by the United Nations to send a team to investigate the use of chemical weapons into the country.

A UN team is currently stationed in Cyprus awaiting permission to travel to Syria.  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated,

“It is a matter of principle that when there is an allegation, whether it is one or two or multiple allegations, all these allegations should be investigated. Only then will we be sure that there was or there were uses of chemical weapons. Without that nobody can be sure".

The BBC reported a Syrian foreign ministry source as having said allowing a UN team would be a "violation of Syrian sovereignty". The source went on to say that Ban had,

"bowed to pressure exercised by states known for their support for the shedding of Syrian blood with the aim of diverting [the probe] from its true content".

The source added,

"Syria cannot accept these manoeuvres from the UN's Secretariat-General, taking into account the truth of the negative role it played in Iraq".

The postponement of ceasefire negotiations between the Burmese government and Kachin rebels on Friday was because China had objected to the presence of Western observers at the talks, Kachin civil society groups say.

See The Irrawady’s report here.

A Burmese government team had been scheduled to meet with representatives of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina on Friday.

Two previous rounds of talks were on Feb. 4 and March 8 in the Chinese border town Ruili.

Chinese observers were the only third-party participants at these talks.

The government had agreed to the KIO’s request, made on March 29, to let Chinese and Western observers attend future talks.

However, “China disagreed with letting the UN, US and UK participate in this [April 6] meeting,” said Mar Khar, executive director of the Kachin Legal Aid Network, which helps internally displaced civilians in Kachin State.

“KIO leaders told me that they don’t want to say bad things about China, so they had to postpone,” he told The Irrawaddy.