Northern Ireland Police are to launch an inquiry into the army’s killing of 13 civilians 40 years ago, as confirmed by Chief Constable Matt Baggott.

On 30th January 1972, on what is now known as Bloody Sunday, soldiers of the British Army shot 26 unarmed protesters and bystanders at a march in Derry, Northern Ireland, against ongoing internment without trial.

Of the 26 that were shot 13 died immediately or shortly after the shoooting.

The inquiry team is expected to have up to 30 officers, although Baggott was unable to confirm when it would begin.

John Kelly, whose brother Michael was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, told The Guardian:

"It certainly is good news, but it was something we were expecting anyway.

"My view on it at the time was these soldiers should have been arrested straight away and prosecuted on what came out of the Saville report.

"But certainly after hearing what we heard today it's a step in the right direction because myself, my family and most of the families want prosecutions.”

The Saville Report’s verdict, that all the victims of the shooting were unarmed and innocent, was wholly accepted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in his speech which officially launched the report in 2010. Cameron also apologised in the Commons and described what happened as “both unjustified and unjustifiable.”

It is unlikely however that any former soldiers involved in the killings will serve long jail sentences as all crimes committed pre-1998 have a de facto amnesty under the Good Friday Agreement.

Two former leaders of the junta in Argentina have been jailed for the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners.

Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone were jailed for 50 years and 15 years respectively, by a court in Buenos Aires.

Over 400 babies are thought to have been taken by members of the security forces during military rule between 1976 and 1983.

A total of seven former members of the military and police force were found guilty of the theft of 34 babies.

Both Videla and Bignone are already serving lengthy sentences for crimes committed during the period.

The UN Human Rights Council has appointed an investigator to focus on human rights abuses in Belarus, amidst “grave concern” over torture allegations and mistreatment of prisoners.

The resolution to appoint a special rapporteur was approved based on the findings of an April report which suggested serious human rights violations since the authoritarian country’s presidential elections in December 2010.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s declared victory sparked a massive protest against alleged vote fraud, in which seven other candidates were among more than 700 to be arrested, with police using violence to disperse protesters.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published the report which detailed a vast number of allegations against political opponents, including beatings, abductions and prison sentences where some were subject to further beatings and torture, denied medical attention or forced to sign confessions.

Belarus’ ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Mikhail Khvostov, told the UNHCR that the EU was pushing its own political agenda.

The local office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe had been closed in Belarus after its observers had criticised the election.

In February the EU recalled all its ambassadors to Belarus, after the EU and Polish ambassadors were asked to leave, in response to a EU vote that added 21 names to an existent list of about 200 Belarusian officials, who are subject to asset freezes and EU travel bans over alleged human rights violations.

Lukashenko has led Belarus since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, using largely Soviet-style controls on the economy and notorious crackdowns on opposition and independent media.

The Kenyan energy ministry has announced it is cancelling crude oil imports from Iran following threats of sanctions.

The US embassy in Nairobi had warned the Kenyan government of the importance of cutting revenue to Iran after Kenya signed a deal to import 4 million tonnes of crude oil from Iran last month.

"There are sanctions that are in place for people that are buying oil and products from Iran - there would be repercussions," the US ambassador in Nairobi, Scott Gration, said earlier on Wednesday.

"Because of international pressure, we have withdrawn that understanding," AFP news agency quotes Patrick Nyoik, the energy ministry's permanent secretary, as saying.

Libyan diaspora cast votes in six countries - Canada, UK, US, UAE, Jordan and Germany.

Whilst some had recently fled, many had left Libya a long time ago, at some point during Gaddafi's 42-year rule.

The Times reported that one elderly gentleman who cast his vote in Wembley, UK, carried with him a passport dating back to 1969.

Coaches have been arranged to enable Britain's 30,000 Libyans to travel to London to cast their votes before Saturday.

Protesters clashed with police in Kiev after Russian was made a regional language in the predominantly Russian regions of Ukraine.

Many say the measure threatens Ukraine’s sovereignty after 20 years of independence from the former Soviet Union.

The bill was approved , after Ukraine’s parliament voted in a surprise proposal, giving those against the bill inadequate time to cast their ballots.

If this bill becomes a law, there will be implications on the languages used in courts, education and other institutions in the Russian speaking regions of Ukraine, although Ukranian would still remain the state language.

Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn announced his resignation due to the passing of the bill.

Commenting on the bill he said “[...] On a larger scale they have tricked Ukraine, they have tricked the people".

Uzbekistan withdrew from a defence alliance between Russia and former six former Soviet satellite states - Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CTSO) - on  Monday.

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry said the decision stemmed from their opposition to recent attempts to strengthen military cooperation within the CTSO.

Russia remains sceptical, and believes the withdrawal paves the way for a us base in uzbekistan preceding the NATO pullout of Afghanistan.

In 1999 Uzbekistan pulled out of the CTSO, allowing the US to use its air base in the south during the Afghan war (2001-2005). In 2006, it was accepted back into the CTSO, after the president ordered US forces to leave after the Americans criticised the Uzbek troops for the killing of civilians in Andijan.

The CSTO also includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

A report by New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch has revealed widespread torture by the government.

HRW interviewed more than 200 former detainees, including women and children who were held in an "archipelago of torture centres".

The group says the torture amounts to crimes against humanity and called for UN observers to examine Syrian detention centres and refer the issue to the International Criminal Court.

The report contains horrific details of torture methods, including an account by a 13-year old boy.

"They said, 'You pigs, you want freedom?' They interrogated me by myself.. they electrocuted me on my stomach, with a prod. I fell unconscious.

"When they interrogated me the second time, they beat me and electrocuted me again. The third time they had some pliers, and they pulled out my toenail."

23-year old Amer was arrested in Idlib province and described being subjected to the basat al-reeh, or "flying carpet" and the dulab, or "tire method".

"They put me on a flying carpet - I was lying on my back, tied to a board, and they lifted my head and legs. All this time I was undressed. They wrapped wires around my penis and turned on the electricity... I passed out.

"When I regained consciousness they were pushing my legs and hands into a tyre. My entire body was blue from beatings,"

"The reach and inhumanity of this network of torture centres are truly horrific," Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch said.

"Russia should not be holding its protective hand over the people who are responsible for this."

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the report "should act as a clear warning".

"Those responsible for systematic and widespread human rights violations should not delude themselves: we and our international partners will do everything we can to ensure that they will face justice,"

Pakistan has ended an 11 month dispute that had strained relations between Washington and Islamabad, by agreeing to allow US forces to reopen supply lines across its border into Afghanistan.

The agreement was instigated by an apology issued by the US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton for the killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a Nato airstrike during the November.

‘I once again reiterated our deepest regrets for the tragic incident in Salala last November...Foreign Minister Khar and I acknowledged the mistakes that resulted in the loss of Pakistani military lives’

Commenting on the reopening of supply lines, Clinton said

‘This is a tangible demonstration of Pakistan’s support for a secure peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan and our shared objectives in the region.’

Although Pakistan and the US are nominally allies, the two have had souring relations over the past decade. Islamabad has been accused by Washington, of not doing enough to combat terrorism.

Turkey scrambled six F-16 fighter jets on its border with Syria, after Syrian helicoptors flew close to its border on Saturday.

In a statement, the Turkish army said that three such incidents were observed on Saturday, however, there was no violation of Turkish airspace.

On Friday, Turkey began deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along the border.

The move comes after a Turkish jet in the border area was shot down by Syrian forces, prompting the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to say that Syria as an "open threat" to his country.

On the 14th day of anti-government protests sparked by rising inflation in Sudan, over 1000 protesters have been arrested and detained in secret locations.

The protest on Friday was broken up by security forces using tear gas, after the country's information minister, Ghazi Al-Sadiq, said the protesters were "rioters" who were threatening the country's stability, and urged the Sudanese people “not to allow the rioters to undermine security and stability of the Sudan.”

Members of the rights group, Organization for Defense of Rights and Freedoms said that whereabouts of those arrested remain unknown with several believed to be detained in "ghost houses".

One of those detained is the Sudanese free lance journalist, Talai Saad, who had provided the news agency AFP with photographs of the protests.

Speaking anonymously, a member of the group said,

“They don’t tell you where they are. You are not even allowed to ask,”

Sudan has blamed the protests on a "foreign agenda" spurred on by the US.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has termed the conflict in Syria a civil war and appealed for “further militarisation of the conflict [in Syria]” to be “avoided at all costs".

Writing to the UN Security Council, Ms Pillay said the crisis would now be called “a non-international internal armed conflict” which is the legal term for civil war which means that the Geneva Conventions on armed conflict would now apply. She claimed that “the ongoing provision of arms to the Syrian government and to its opponents feeds additional violence".

It appears that both sides of the conflict have committed war crimes, according to Ms Pillay who emphasised that the issue of Syria’s conflict should be referred to the International Criminal Court.

She also mentioned that government forces had attacked clinics, that at least one medical facility had been taken over by rebels for military purposes and that there had been reports of rebel forces using children as human shields.

Touching on the Houla massacre Ms Pillay said that evidence pointed to “the greater responsibility of the government” adding that the “bulk of the information gathered to date points to the involvement of the government-supported Shabbiha militia responsible for many of the killings, and the use of indiscriminate fire of heavy weapons by the government".

The UN is considering downscaling its monitoring mission in Syria as it is becoming impossible to operate in the violence.

Navi Pillay however urged a strengthening of the mission’s mandate “to enable it to effectively monitor and report on the human rights situation in Syria".

President Assad of Syria was previously considered for an honorary knighthood by the Queen during Tony Blair's era, reports The Times on Sunday.

According to official papers obtained by The Sunday Times under freedom of information laws, discussions took place ahead of Assad's 2002 visit to the UK, where he was granted an audience with the Queen and Prince of Wales.

The documents reveal in details the measures taken by the British government to enhance the Syrian president's image by promoting Assad's "photogenic" wife and seeking to ensure he was portrayed by the media in a favourable light.

According to the papers, the then British ambassador to Syria, Henry Hogger, told officials in London:

"I know that our main concern is to try and fix in advance the handling of difficult media issues (eg. why are we cosying up to this nasty dictatorship that locks up its own MPs?)"

Commenting on the unearthed documents, Hogger remarked, "Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Were we to have known then what we know now, some of the advice and decisions might have been different."

Speaking to The Guardian from Turkey, exiled members of Syria’s opposition have written off UN diplomacy and talks of peace-brokering as by and large irrelevant to the crisis.

Dissidents have said that talking had simply consolidated and bought time for the Assad regime, and an end to the turmoil could only be arrived at through all-out war.

The Guardian’s Martin Chulov reports that the UN is largely viewed as impotent by the Syrian opposition.

Houda Idris, an exile from the Syrian port of Lattakia said to The Guardian “What they were talking about [in Geneva] is meaningless. It won’t change things.”

Recovering from a broken leg in a hospital bed in Antakya, Ahmed Julak says

“There is no peace and there is no plan. Nobody listened to Kofi Annan. Not the regime and not us. There is no dealing with these people, and that is the truth. And what is a transitional government?”

“If Assad stays or goes is not the problem. It’s the regime that needs to go. If that doesn’t happen, then no reasonable person can say there has been progress.”

Another man recovering from a bullet wound to his kidney says that as long as Russia continued to push its weight in negotiations, talks could never advance. “We will finish what we started” he added.

Although there has been a significant inflow of light weapons and increased defections from the regime’s security forces, the opposition still seems restricted in its capacity to force change.

More often than not, opposition fighters pay a heavy daily toll and backers admitted to being exhausted by the seemingly unending chaos. Rebel forces however are determined to follow through with the momentum that they feel is with them.

Mohammed Khiari, a defected soldier from Houla has taken refuge in the Syrian village of Qatma.

“I’ve seen the face of this regime, because I was one of their soldiers.

“Negotiations to them are a chance to stall... there is nothing left to do except fight. And we will meet our challenges.”