The European Union will gain its 28th member on 1 July, once all members ratify the agreement.

19 members have already agreed to Croatia’s membership to the union and the European Commission said that Croatia is ready to join.

"We are confident that Croatia will be ready to join the EU on 1 July 2013," EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said after talks in Zagreb on Tuesday.

"This report is a clean bill of health."

"EU membership is an additional incentive to carry on with reforms. Croatia is expected to continue developing its track record in the field of the rule of law, notably in the fight against corruption," he said.

EU backs Croatia to join in July as 28th member state - BBC (26 March 2013)

A Swedish scientist has been appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to head a probe into allegations of chemical weapon usage in Syria.

A spokesperson for the UN said that the terms for the mission were being finalised but that work was under way for the mission to be dispatched quickly.

The investigation was announced by Ban on Thursday after a formal request from Syria, as well as from France and the UK.

South Korea has signed an agreement with the US to respond together in the eventuality of North Korean “provocations”.

The military plan provides for US assistance should North Korea fulfil its recent threats.

"This allows both nations to jointly respond to the North's local provocations, with the South taking the lead and the US in support," South Korean defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said on Monday.

"It will have the effect of preventing the North from daring to provoke us."

Read more here.

Egypt's prosecutor general ordered the arrest of five prominent political activists on Monday, on allegations of inciting violence near the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters last week.

At least 130 people are reported to have been hospitalised after protests outside the headquarters turned violent on Friday.

The prosecutor's orders come after a threat from President Mursi who warned on Sunday that "necessary measures" would be taken against politicians found to be involved in the violence.

See Reuters for full report.

Seven former military and police personnel have been jailed for "crimes against humanity committed in the international context of genocide", by a court in Argentina, earlier this week.

The individuals werefound guilty of crimes committed during the country's military rule from1976-83, where some 16,000 people were thought to have disappeared.

The seven individuals, who range from age 69 to 82, were handed life sentences. A further three former securty force members were handed sentences between five and eighteen years.

The case is another in a series of prosecutions that began in 2003, after the country voted to revoke an amnesty granted to former military officials from the dictatorship era.

The head of the Syrian National Congress (SNC), Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, has resigned from the opposition movement, according to a statement on his Facebook page.

Al-Khatib said he resigned because he wanted to work without the constraints that being part of an institution placed on him.

"I announce my resignation from the National Coalition, so that I can work with a freedom that cannot possibly be had in an official institution," he said in the statement.

"For the past two years, we have been slaughtered by an unprecedentedly vicious regime, while the world has looked on," Mr Khatib added.

"All the destruction of Syria's infrastructure, the detention of tens of thousands of people, the forced flight of hundreds of thousands and other forms of suffering have been insufficient for the international community to take a decision to allow the people to defend themselves."

See here for more on the BBC.

The Free Syrian Army announced on Sunday that it does not recognize the opposition coalition's choice of provisional prime minister, reports Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Ghassan Hitto was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood and coalition secretary General Mustafa Sabbagh, but the Free Syrian Army does not believe that the US citizen who spent most of his life in the US is the right choice to lead the first government of the Syrian revolution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologised to Turkey for the deaths caused by a commando raid on an aid flotilla, which attempted to breach the blockade on Gaza, and agreed to compensate the relatives of the deceased.

"The prime minister made it clear that the tragic results regarding the Mavi Marmara were unintentional and that Israel expresses regret over injuries and loss of life," a statement by Netanyahu’s office said.

"In light of the Israeli investigation into the incident, which pointed out several operational errors, Prime Minister Netanyahu apologised to the Turkish people for any errors that could have led to loss of life and agreed to complete the agreement on compensation."

Turkey’s prime minister accepted the apology “in the name of the Turkish people”.

The deal between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Benjamin Netanyahu also agreed to normalise diplomatic relations and the halting of procedures against Israel in turkish courts.

Barack Obama, who just completed a visit to Israel, was instrumental in brokering the deal.

"The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security," the president said in a statement released by the White House.

The suspected war criminal General Bosco Ntaganda has arrived at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, after surrendering at the US embassy in Rwanda.

Gen Ntaganda has been charged by the ICC with 10 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"This is a good day for victims in the DRC and for international justice," ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme

"Today those who have long suffered at the hands of Bosco Ntaganda can look forward to the prospects of justice taking its course."

The resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been accepted by President Michel Suleiman.

Mikati's resignation is said to have sparked clashes in the northern port city of Tripoli, where reports claim heavy weaponry such as mortar bombs were involved.

Mikati resigned after a ministerial meeting on Friday was deadlocked by a dispute with Hezbollah.

See Reuters for full report.

US President Barack Oabama paid a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site in Israel, as part of his 3 day visit to the country.

The President  with Israeli prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres, lit the 'Eternal Flame' and took part in a 10-minute ceremony, which concluded with a prayer for the souls of martyrs.

Speaking at the memorial in Jerusalem, President Obama stated,

“Nothing equals the wrenching power of this sacred place".

Extracts from his spech have been reproduced below. See his full speech here.

"If you come here a thousand times, each time our hearts will break. For here we see the depravity to which man can sink, the barbarity that unfolds when we begin to see our fellow human beings as somehow less than us, less worthy of dignity and life; we see how evil can, for a moment in time, triumph when good people do nothing."

"In our lives we always have choices.  To succumb to our worst instincts or to summon the better angels of our nature. To be indifferent to suffering to wherever it may be, whoever it may be visited upon, or to display the empathy that is at the core of our humanity.  We have the choice to acquiesce to evil or make real our solemn vow -- “never again.”  We have the choice to ignore what happens to others, or to act on behalf of others and to continually examine in ourselves whatever dark places there may be that might lead to such actions or inactions." 

"This is our obligation -- not simply to bear witness, but to act."

The leader of the PKK Abdullah Ocalan has called for an immediate ceasefire with Turkey, in a significant step in the peace process between Kurds and Turkey.

A statement by Ocalan was read out to hundreds of thousands of people in the Kurdish capital Diyarbakir, during the Kurdish New Year Newroz celebrations. The statement was also broadcast live on Turkish television, an unprecedented move as all displays of PKK symbols are banned.

"We have reached the point where weapons should be silent and ideas and politics should speak,

"A new phase in our struggle is beginning. Now a door is opening to a phase where we are moving from armed resistance to an era of democratic political struggle," his statement said, adding that the 3,500 PKK fighters remaining in Turkey should withdraw to the mountainous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"We have sacrificed decades for [the Kurds] and have paid a big price. None of these sacrifices and struggles were in vain. Kurds regained their self-awareness, essence and identity.

"Now it is time for our armed units to move across the border [to northern Iraq]. This is not an end but a new beginning. This is not abandoning the struggle, but a start to a different struggle."

The military leader of the PKK, Murat Karayilan supported the statement. "All of Turkey, Kurdistan and the world must know this: as the PKK movement, we are ready for war and for peace," he told the Kurdish Firat news agency.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cautiously welcomed the “positive” move, but stressed the importance of a ceasefire.

The spokesperson for the US States Department, Victoria Nuland, also welcomed the announcement, applauding the “courageous efforts of the Government of Turkey and all parties concerned to achieve a peaceful resolution”.

The Italian government has agreed to send back the marines accused of murdering two Indian fishermen.

Delhi had allowed the men to return to Italy last month to vote in the country’s election, however they failed to return, sparking a diplomatic row which saw the Italian ambassador to India barred from leaving the country.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s office announced it has received ample assurances about the men’s human rights and treatment while in custody. "The marines agreed to this decision," the statement added.

The US has been working with Kigali and the ICC to transfer Bosco Ntaganda to the The Hague “as quickly as possible”.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnny Carson, said Rwanda was cooperating and would not interfere with the transfer of the man, also known as “The Terminator”.

"The timeline is uncertain but the need for rapid and quick action is clear," Mr Carson said, according to AFP.

Neither the US nor Rwanda recognise the ICC, but Carson said it was important that the transfer of Ntaganda from the embassy to the airport was “in no way be inhibited".

Ntaganda surrendered at the US embassy in the Rwandan capital on Saturday after being defeated by a rival faction within his M23 rebel group.