South Korea has warned that it would retaliate against any hostile action from North Korea.

Army General Kim Yong-hyun said there would be "resolute retaliations" should South Korean lives be under threat.

"If North Korea carries out provocations that threaten the lives and safety of South Koreans, our military will carry out strong and resolute retaliations," he told reporters.

North Korea said on Tuesday that they would end the truce in place since 1953 on March 11.

The US has tabled a resolution at the UN Security Council calling for new sanctions against Pyongyang.

The UN Security Council unanimously voted to ease the ban on the sale of weapons on Somalia after 21 years.

The embargo will be eased for a year, opening the opportunity for the government to arm its military with light weapons, however heavy arms will still be banned.

"The council has struck the right balance. It sends a positive signal to President Hassan Sheikh but it continues to give the council oversight of weapons flows into Somalia," Britain's UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said.

Amnesty International said that the move would be “premature”, and tighter controls on where weapons would end up needed to be in place before the sale of arms recommenced.

Prosecutors in France have sought a genocide trial for a former Rwandan army captain, in what could lead to be the country's first attempt at prosecuting perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.

53-year-old Pascal Simbikangwa, who was arrested in the French island of Mayotte in 2008 may face charges of "complicity in genocide" and "complicity in crimes against humanity", if investigating magistrates decide to press charges.

The move comes after a Rwandan-born Dutch citizen was jailed for her role in the genocide and increasing criticism of France for their refusal to prosecute genocide suspects.

See our earlier posts:

Rwanda threatens to take France to court over Genocide suspects (27 December 2012)

France criticised for sheltering Rwandan genocide suspects (17 December 2012)

The former Maldives president, Mohamed Nasheed was arrested on Tuesday by police, ten days after he left the Indian High Commission where he had fled to avoid arrest.

Police made the arrest following a court order issued after Nasheed missed a court appearance on 10th February. He has been accused of illegally detaining a judge during the final days of his presidency.

A spokesperson for the Maldives police told Reuters:

"We have received a court order to arrest him and produce to the court,"

"...We have him in police custody. He will be produced in court tomorrow."

The US has tabled a resolution at the UN Security Council, calling for sanctions on North Korean officials and financial transactions.

"For the first time ever, this resolution targets the illicit activities of North Korean diplomatic personnel, North Korean banking relationships [and] illicit transfers of bulk cash," said UN ambassador Susan.

"The breadth and scope of these sanctions is exceptional and demonstrates the strength of the international community's commitment to denuclearisation."

China is supporting the US moves, with Lia Baodong, China's UN envoy, saying that a “strong signal” had to be sent, after North Korea again conducted a nuclear test last month.

North Korea earlier said it would end the 1953 armistice with South Korea in response to the threats of sanctions.

"We aim to launch surgical strikes at any time and any target without being bounded by the armistice accord and advance our long-cherished wish for national unification," a statement by the military command said.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday evening, losing a two-year battle to cancer.

Born in 1954 and described as the vanguard of "21st Century Socialism", Chavez took office in 1999 and was re-elected for a six-year term in October 2012.

Chavez named his Vice-Preisdent Nicolas Maduro as his preferred successor in December 2012.

See here for the BBC's obituary.

Israel launched two Palestinian only bus routes in the West Bank on Monday, a move which has been criticised as racist. (See here)

The Transport Ministry said that the lines would "improve public transport services for Palestinian workers entering Israel" and replace private buses charging "exorbitant prices", adding:

"Furthermore, the Ministry of Transport is not authorised to prevent any passenger from using public transport services."

However rights groups have raised concern that this would allow Israeli police at checkpoints in the West Bank to segregate Palestinian passengers from regular bus lines.

Haaretz, a left-wing daily newspaper, reported that the ministry opened the lines after Jewish settlers complained that Palestinians on the buses were a security risk.

The mayor of the Karnei Shomron settlement, Herzl Ben-Zvi, said that the new lines would "answer the needs of all passengers - Palestinians and settlers".

Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a Libyan revolutionary commander turned politician, made his offering challenging British government claims that a new secret courts had to be introduced to prevent large payouts, after a £2.2 million was paid to another dissident.

Belhaj is demanding a pound each from the British government, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Sir Mark Allen, former head of counter-terrorism at MI6.

In a letter published in the Independent, Belhaj says,

"Various media reports I have seen suggest that our motive for bringing this case is to enrich ourselves. I wish to lay this misconception to rest."

"But we have come to court in Britain because we believe your courts can deliver justice. We are primarily bringing this claim to secure a public judgment, recognising the wrongs we have suffered.

"I have seen press reports of ministers seeking to justify secret trials on the basis that the government has to pay large settlements to protect national security. You can now settle this case at little cost to the UK taxpayer. There will be no harm to the security of the British people for the government and Messrs Straw and Allen to accept their responsibility, and apologise to me and my wife."

"To Messrs Allen and Straw: We are not seeking an apology from you out of vindictiveness.  As you know, we have neither named nor pursued the other more junior officers and individuals named in the same documents that identified Sir Mark Allen. This is because I believe responsibility for my wife's and my suffering must ultimately lie with those in command."

"Our position remains the same as we expressed to the British government over a year ago: we are ready to move forward, but we cannot do so until we see that justice is done. "

Reprieve legal director Cori Crider said,

"What our clients want from the government is an admission, an apology and an explanation of how this was allowed to happen"

"Fatima Boudchar and Abdul-Hakim Belhaj are asking for justice - and the token 'payment' will cost the PM the price of his latte."

"The next time the government repeats its mantra that secret courts will save the public purse, remember: this family was willing to walk away for £3."

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has called for access to Iran’s Parchin military complex “without further delay”.

Director general Yukiya Amano said to the IAEA’s governing board:

"Providing access to the Parchin site would be a positive step which would help to demonstrate Iran's willingness to engage with the agency on the substance of our concerns,", adding that access should be provided without awaiting further talks.

The IAEA suspects Iran has been experimenting with technology that could aid the development of nuclear weapons.

42 Syrian soldiers seeking refuge in Iraq were killed in an ambush, attributed to the al-Qaeda, on Monday.

The ambush occured when the soldiers were being escorted back to Syria.

Seven Iraqi police officers were also killed.

See the Telegraph for full report.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that arming Syrian rebels cannot be ruled out.

Hague’s comment came after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad attacked Britain in an interview with the Sunday Times.

"We do not expect an arsonist to be a firefighter," Assad said in the interview.

"To be frank, Britain has played a famously unconstructive role in our region on different issues for decades, some say for centuries... The problem with this government is that their shallow and immature rhetoric only highlights this tradition of bullying and hegemony...

"How can we ask Britain to play a role while it is determined to militarise the problem? How can we expect them to make the violence less while they want to send military supplies to the terrorists?"

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, William Hague said an aid package, due to be announced in parliament next week, will not include arms, but this he could not "rule anything out for the future".

"If this is going to go on for months or years and more, tens of thousands of people are going to die, and countries like Iraq and Lebanon and Jordan are going to be destabilised, it is not something we can ignore," he said.

"The message to him is that we, Britain, are the people sending food and shelter and blankets to the help the people driven from their homes and families in his name.

"We're the people sending medical supplies to try and look after people injured and abused by soldiers working for this man.

"I think this will go down as one of the most delusional interviews that any national leader has given in modern times."

The US has pledged $450 million to Egypt in ordering to help improve the fragile Egyptian economy.

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is currently visiting Egypt, announced the assistance whilst stressing the need for "more hard work".

Speaking to the Egpytian president Mr Morsi, Kerry urged him to ensure that April's elections for free, fair and transparent. The elections are being boycotted by the main opposition group due to on-going mass pro-democracy protests.

Speaking after the second day of talks, Kerry said:

"It is clear that more hard work and compromise will be required to restore unity, political stability and economic health to Egypt,"

"In all my meetings, I conveyed a simple but serious message: the brave Egyptians who stood vigil in Tahrir Square did not risk their lives to see that opportunity for a brighter future squandered."

"The Egyptian people must come together to address their economic challenge,"

A United Nations official has welcomed a ruling in Cambodia's genocide tribunal that will allow crimes of sexual violence committed during the Khmer Rouge regime to be tried.

The UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, welcomed the move that will see crimes of forced marriage and rape included against three former regime officials on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Bangura said,

“This ruling provides an opportunity to send a clear message that conflict-related sexual violence is a crime against humanity and that no matter how long it takes perpetrators will be prosecuted and punished,”

“Those who suffered under the Khmer Rouge should not be victimized again by having their cries for justice ignored”.