The former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for recruiting and using child soldiers.

Lubanga pleaded not guilty but was convicted unanimously by judges in the International Criminal Court in March this year.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo called for a "severe sentence" of 30 years.

Speaking in June, he said the prosecution was seeking a sentence "in the name of each child recruited, in the name of the Ituri region".

According to Human Rights Watch, over 60,000 people were killed in fighting between Hema and Lenda ethnic groups in Ituri between 2002 and 2003.

Lubanga was the leader of the Hema militia, Union of Congolese Patriots.

Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, marked a new phase in the struggle to bring democracy to the land, by making her historic first appearance in parliament.

‘I will try my best for the country’ she told AFP, as she embarked on her first day.

Suu Kyi united with fellow members of her National League for Democracy (NLD), as both the party and its leader emerge as mainstream political players in the light of a landmark result in the April by-elections, in which the party won 43 out of 45 seats at stake.

The opposition leader’s entrance to parliament comes at an uncertain time for Burma, as recent violence and student arrests have cast a shadow over promising democratic reforms.

Her arrival comes ahead of an expected change of personnel in the highest ranks of the regime, including senior hard-line members.

Suu Kyi pledged that her party will join the ‘legislative concert’ and push for greater transparency once inside parliament.

Suu Kyi’s attendance in parliament helps to give some legitimacy to a parliament that is still dominated by the military and its political allies, which came into occurrence during the questionable November 2010 elections, when Suu kyi was still a political prisoner.

Even military men welcomed the activist, despite her party’s plans to ease them out of legislature by abolishing the constitutional provisions that allocate the military a quarter of the seats.

‘It’s good that she arrived today, we all welcome her’ said Brigadier General Wai Lin.

The NLD’s involvement in mainstream politics comes due to vast changes made by the new regime that lead to the release of hundreds of political prisoners, including high profile Aung San Suu Kyi, who was held under house arrest for the most part of the past 20 years.

The highest court in Egypt has ruled to overturn a parliament order by President Mursi to reconvene parliament, after a military council dissolved it last month.

Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square to protest against the decision.

MPs met shortly for the first time today before the speaker adjourned the sitting.

Speaker Saad al-Katatni said that by holding the session, MPs were not going against the dissolution ruling "but looking at a mechanism for the implementation of the ruling of the respected court. There is no other agenda today".

The MPs supported Mr Katatni’s proposal to seek legal advice from a higher court on how to implement the court’s ruling.

Some liberal MPs boycotted the assembly because Mr Mursi's "violation of the Supreme Court's decision" represented a "challenge to the legitimacy of his own rule", as Mr Mursi had taken his oath of office in front of the court.

The Egyptian military council has released a statement warning the new president Mohammed Mursi to uphold a court’s decision to dissolve parliament.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said it was confident that ‘all state institutions’ would respect the law and constitution.

The statement is likely to infuriate the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a BBC correspondent Jon Leyne.

Members of the Brotherhood believe it was the military that failed to respect the law by giving itself new powers after dissolving parliament last month, he says.

A parliamentary meeting has been called for Tuesday, in defiance of military orders.

International envoy, Kofi Annan said he agreed with President Assad for a reworked political approach to end the 16 month conflict in Syria.

In his third visit to Syria, the former UN chief, whose on the ground observers have been grounded due to escalating violence, said that he “stressed the importance of moving ahead with political dialogue, which the president accepted.”

"We discussed the need to end the violence and ways and means of doing so. We agreed an approach which I will share with the armed opposition," he told reporters after meeting Mr Assad in Damascus.

President Assad acknowledged Kofi Annan’s plan whilst claiming that other countries wanted the plan to fail by offering arms, money or political support to ‘terrorists’ in Syria.

Un chief Ban Ki-moon called for the mission in Syria to be scaled down and refocus on political efforts to end the conflict, noting the 1.5 million civilians in need of emergency aid.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused the US, Saudia Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of backing “terrorists” trying to overthrow his government.

In an interview on Sunday with Germany’s ARD network, Assad said that he does not fear the same fate as Gaddafi or Mubarak, claiming that he was still in power because he had the support of his people and adding:

"[…] to be scared, you have to compare. Do we have something in common? It's a completely different situation ... You cannot compare."

Assad also claimed that the majority of victims of the uprising, which has been ongoing for 16 months, were government supporters.

"From the list that we have... the highest percentage are people who are killed by gangs, different kinds of gangs ... If you talk about the supporters of the government - the victims from the security and the army - are more than the civilians."

Speaking about his talks with Annan, Assad said:

"[Annan’s peace plan] shouldn't fail. It is a very good plan,

"The main obstacle (is) that many countries don't want (it) to succeed. So they offer political support and they still send armaments and send money to terrorists in Syria. They want it to fail in this way.

"If I don't have a support in the public, how could I stay in this position? United States is against me, the West is against me, many regional powers and countries and the people against me, so, how could I stay in this position?

"The answer is, I still have a public support. How much, what the percentage is - this is not the question, I don't have numbers now."

Describing the Syrian rebel army, Assad said that they are "an amalgam of al Qaeda, other extremists, not necessarily al Qaeda, and outlaws who escaped the police for years, mainly smuggling drugs from Europe to the Gulf area and others who were sentenced in different sentences."

"[Some] were paid the money, sometimes on the threat and sometimes for certain illusions and delusions. So, not all of them are terrorists."

Assad accused the United States of being responsible for “terrorist” actions.

"As long as you offer any kind of support to terrorists, you are a partner. Whether you send them armaments or money or public support, political support in the United Nations, anywhere. Any kind of support, this is implication."

The student activists, who were arrested by Burmese authorities over plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a protest and subsequent crackdown by the government, have been released.

Around 300 people gathered in Rangoon on Saturday to mark the anniversary, despite the arrests.

Activists claim the detentions are proof that the Burmese government still has oppressive tendencies, despite democratic reforms.

"Police officials told us that they just wanted to question us in connection with our plans to commemorate the anniversary," All Burma Students Union Phyo Phyo Aung told the Reuters news agency.

The student protest in 1962 was held a few months after a coup saw the beginning of military rule in Burma.

The regime unleashed a brutal crackdown on the demonstrations, killing dozens.

Burma clamps down on student activism (06 Jun 2012)

Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi has ordered the country’s dissolved parliament to reconvene, a move which the Washington Post has described as “a bold stroke that will test the limits of the fledgling government’s power and provoke a confrontation with the country’s military leaders.”

Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported that "President Mursi has issued a presidential decree annulling the decision taken on June 15, 2012 to dissolve the people's assembly, and invites the chamber to convene again and to exercise its prerogatives” and in reaction the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) had convened an "urgent meeting under the chairmanship of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to discuss the presidential measures."

MENA said that Mursi’s decree also specifies "the organisation of elections for the chamber, 60 days after the approval by referendum of the country's new constitution and the adoption of a new law regulating parliament."

The Parliament, dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties was dissolved by a court order, which was imposed by military generals on the eve of the Egyptian presidential elections. They claimed the result was unconstitutional as party members contested seats reserved for independents.

Election results indicate Muslim Brotherhood win - Egypt (18 Jun 2012)

The International Criminal Court will hand out its first ever sentence to the Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, for using child soldiers in his rebel army in 2002-2003.

Lubanga, 51 was convicted in March of war crimes, it will be the ICC’s first ever verdict since it started work a decade ago. Lubanga was found guilty of abducting children sa young as 11 and forcing them to commit atrocities, in the north east of the DRC.

The Hague-based court’s former chief prosecutor, Luis Morena-Ocampo, called for a sentence of 30 years, saying his crimes were ‘of most serious concert to the international community'.

If sent to jail, the ICC will determine where his time should be served. Six countries have shown their readiness to accept prisoners sentenced by the ICC: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Finland, Mali and Serbia.

"We had been trailing him since March because we had information that he was here, and that he had changed his name and was shifting his addresses here."

"We are still working on what to do with him. It is Belgium that has issued the warrant for him and not Rwanda."

A senior general in the Syrian Republican Guard has reportedly defected to Turkey, making General Manaf Tlas is the first of such seniority to defect.

The news was reported by the website Syria Steps, which is believed to have close links to the Syrian security forces.

The website asserted, "His escape does not mean anything."

General Tlas is believed to have fled to Turkey.

Syrian rebels report that he has made no contact with them, and they will not count his departure as a defection until he joins them.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the UN to use the threat of sanctions to help implement change in Syria, whilst President Bashar Al-Assad suffered the setback of the defection of his most senior generals.

Addressing the Friends of Syria meeting in Paris, the US diplomat also outlined Russia and China as the main obstacles on the way to peace in Syria.

The French President, Francois Hollande echoed the US calls, while the Syrian opposition pushed for a no fly zone.

Speaking at Geneva last week, Clinton expressed the need for more pressure on Syria.

’It is imperative to go back to the Security Council and demand implementation of Kofi Annan’s plan including the Geneva communique that Russia and China have already agreed to.’ Clinton said.

China and Moscow were both absent for these meetings, although an anonymous Russian diplomatic source insisted that ‘Russian political and security circles were changing their position’.