“grave and massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed particularly in the north of the country.”

"I have instructed my office to immediately proceed with a preliminary examination of the situation."

“This is the fifth time an African state has either referred crimes committed on its own territory to the ICC or accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction, indicating that governments across the continent are now acknowledging the importance of the ICC in providing justice to victims,”

“The fact that the ICC is examining the situation in Mali sends an important message to those planning and committing these crimes that they cannot act with impunity and may be brought to justice,”

“However, it’s crucial that the Court looks at the full scope of alleged crimes across the country, including those carried out by Malian security forces.”

The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan held talks this weekend, for the first time since April.

Meeting at an African Union summit in Ethiopia, Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan's Salva Kiir discussed the disputed South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions.

According to AllAfrica, Kiir suggested that a referendum be held on the disputed region of Abeyei, however Bashir's response remains unknown.

According to the Sudan Tribune, a three-pronged plan was agreed upon during the meeting regarding filling Sudan's financial deficit, whereby Sudan would account for a third, South Sudan for a third, and the international community meet the final third.

As South Sudan celebrated it's first anniversary of independence, the two presidents shook hands publicly for the first time.

THe UN set the 2nd August as a deadline by which time to resolve the dispute following cross border violence in the oil rich region of Heglig. 

Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Syria, creating frustration among the remaining states.

Special Envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi had said that Annan had expressed disappointment over the world powers, for failing to reach a consensus on the issue and added that "[Annan] believes that the voice of the Council is much more powerful when its members act as one."

French ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud had said:

"It is now clear that Russia merely wants to win time for the Syrian regime to smash the opposition,"

The White House has criticised the “highly unfortunate” vetoes with spokesman Jay Carney saying:

"[China and Russia] are on the wrong side of the Syrian people, the wrong side of hope for peace and stability in the region,"

 "It was a highly regrettable decision."

In a statement on Thursday morning, British foreign secretary William Hague had said:

“[The resolution] was not a Western proposition. It was what people in governments all over the world wanted to see, and there was nothing in it that would have authorised military action.”

“So the decision by Russia and China, in the view of the United Kingdom, to veto this resolution is inexcusable and indefensible. When it came to the time to turn agreements, which they have supported, into action to end the violence, they stood aside from that. They have turned their back on the people of Syria in their darkest hour.”

The US senate's finance committee voted to extend the trade sanctions for a further three years on Thursday, despite the attempts of the Burmese opposition leader to work on the removal of these sanctions.

The committee's chairman Max Baucaus said,

“By reauthorizing the import sanctions for three years, we maintain the pressure on the Burmese government to undertake reforms.”

However, he added, the ban on Burmese imports, could be annulled at any time, as a reward for continued democratic reforms.

The new bill updates the legislation that was first put in to place in 2003 and set to expire at the end of this month.

This extension of the import ban comes after the US eased some investment sanctions in Burma.

A 97-year-old man was taken into custody in Hungary on Wednesday, on suspicion of committing war crimes during the Holocaust.

The suspect, Laszlo Csatary, was questioned and charged with 'unlawful torture of human beings' - a war crime for which the maximum sentence is life in prison.

The prosecutors' statement said that in May 1944, as chief of an internment camp at Kosice (now part of Slovakia), Csatary "regularly" used a dog whip against the Jewish detainees "without any special reasons and irrespective of the assaulted people's sex, age or health condition."

He is also accused of being responsible for the deportation of over 12000 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp.

According to Budapest’s acting chief prosecutor Tibor Ibolya, Csatary said of his Holocaust-era activities that he had been following orders and carrying out his duty.

Jewish activists at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre had named Csatary as top of a list of their most-wanted ‘Nazi war criminals’. The organisation campaigns to bring all remaining Nazi war criminals to justice.

Efraim Zuroff, director of the Centre’s Jerusalem office told the Associated Press:

"When you look at a person like this, you shouldn't see an old frail person, but think of a man who at the height of his physical powers devoted all his energy to murdering or persecuting and murdering innocent men, women and children."

Syrian state TV has claimed three senior officials of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime have died in a suicide bomb during a meeting at the national security headquarters on Wednesday morning.

Defence Minister General Daoud Rajiha, feared security chief and Assad’s brother-in-law Gen Assef Shawkat and former defence minister and head of Assad’s crisis management office Gen Hassan Turkomani were reported killed in the blast.

“The terrorist explosion which targeted the national security building in Damascus occurred during a meeting of ministers and a number of heads of [security] agencies," state TV said.

Reporters in Damascus have reported that the building has no apparent signs of damage and that security was normal in the area.

No footage of the attack or its aftermath has yet emerged.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) and a group calling itself Lord of the Martyrs Brigade have both claimed to be behind the attack, which was reportedly committed by a bodyguard.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said the situation in Syria was ‘spinning out of control’ and called on Assad to step down.

He said the international community needs to “bring maximum pressure on President Bashar Assad to do what's right, to step down and allow for that peaceful transition."

A vote at the UN Security Council was postponed earlier today as detail of the bomb blast emerged.

The West-backed resolution threatens Syria with tougher sanctions; however it is still opposed by Russia.

According to Interfax news agency, US president Obama and his Russian counterpart Putin discussed the crisis during a telephone call earlier today and although they agreed on a final goal, they could not come to an agreement over how to reach it.

After visiting the Bashabsheh refugee camp in Jordan, currently hosting 140000 refugees that have escaped the Syrian conflict, British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has stated that there can be "no impunity" for people committing human rights abuses in Syria.

He emphasised that following orders did not excuse officials and others of responsibility for war crimes.

Speaking about human rights abusers, Hague said,

"They must understand that their actions have consequences, that acting on behalf of the regime does not absolve them of responsibility, and that we are committed to doing all that we can to hold them to account.

"As the convictions of Charles Taylor and Thomas Lubanga show, justice has a long memory and long reach."

Hague announced that Britain will increase its support for those that are working to document the crimes committed by the Assad regime against civilians.

The UK has committed itself to training and equipping a further 20 Syrian human rights activists, to add to the 47 that were trained earlier this year.

He also noted that unless China and Russia changed their policy of vetoing sanctions and resolutions on Syria, they would be held increasingly responsible for the progressive death an violence taking place in conflict ridden Syria, which has now been described as a Civil War.

The United Nations has estimated that more than 16,000 people have died since the initial uprising that began 18 months ago.

The wartime leader Mahmoud Jibril has won Libya's first national elections according to results published on Tuesday.

His party, the National Forces Alliance, won 39 out of 80 seats, and the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party took 17.

Only 40% of Libya's 200 seats of Congress are reserved for political parties however. The 120 remaining seats are for individual candidtates, many of whom are believed to be supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Two former officials of the Chilean military have been arrested for the killing of General Alberto Bachelet, the father of the former president, Michelle Bachelet.

Ramon Caceres and Edgar Ceballos, formerly members of the Chilean Air Force, are charged with torturing to death Gen Bachelet, who died in 1974, after a coup led by Gen Pinochet saw the imposition of military rule in Chile.

Judge Mario Carroza said the torture aggravated the general’s heart condition which then caused his death.

The case was reopened by Judge Carroza last year following a complaint by relatives of the general.

Gen Bachelet’s daughter became Chile’s president in 2006 and is now the head of the UN Women’s Agency.

Meeting the head of the Egyptian military council (Scaf), Field Marshall Tantawi, on Sunday, the US Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton urged the military make way for a civilian-led democracy.

After the meeting, Clinton said,

"Democracy is hard. It requires dialogue and compromise and real politics. We are encouraged and we want to be helpful. But we know that it is not for the United States to decide; it is for the Egyptian people to decide."

An US State Department official added,

“Tantawi stressed that this is what Egyptians need most now, help getting the economy back on track,”

“The Secretary stressed the importance of protecting the rights of all Egyptians, including women and minorities.”

Addressing his troops afterwards, Field Marshall Tantawi said “the armed forces and the army council [would] respect legislative and executive authorities,” but they “would not allow anyone to discourage [them] from . . . protecting Egypt and its people."

A spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood, Mourad Mohammed Aly, reiterated Clinton's calls for democracy, and said,

“With all due respect to international powers, Egyptians have the right to establish a fully democratic regime,”

"We expect the international community will support us, but if they will not support us, we will do it on our own.”

Clinton met with Egypt's President Mursi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, the day before.

The Syrian government further hampers UN efforts to meet the growing humanitarian needs in Syria, which has been categorised as a civil war by the Red Cross.

Speaking after chairing the humanitarian forum in Geneva, the U.N official for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, John Ging, said,

“We have a number of visas pending for international staff from a number of Western countries- the United States, Canada, the UK, France and one or two more- that are refused their visas because of their nationalities”

Ging made clear that even though Syrian officials were respecting most aspects of a humanitarian delivery agreement reached with the United Nations six weeks ago, the holding back of visas to international aid agency staff was not acceptable. 

“That is something we object to very strongly” he said.

Ging spoke at forum where the United Nations and other international relief agencies appealed for $189 million to help provide aid to civilians residing in Syria. The United States and European Union have pledged increased financial support.

The humanitarian crisis is set to substantially magnify due to the increased conflict amidst a reduced harvest in Syria this year.