Bahraini officials have defended their human rights record during their Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council.

The human rights minister of the gulf kingdom, Salah bin Ali Mohammed Abdulrahman said the government is quickly improving their human rights record after the allegations of serious violations by Bahraini security forces.

“We reaffirm the importance of national dialogue,” he said.

“The kingdom of Bahrain will deal positively and constructively with all the recommendations that have been submitted, and we shall attach high importance to this process.”

Diplomats praised the Bahraini regime for setting up an independent inquiry, but called for urgent action on the findings that security forces committed torture and resorted to excessive violence against protestors.

The UN's high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has begun a five day trip to Zimbabwe at the invitation of the the president, Robert Mugabe.

Pillay said,

 "It is very, very important that the government has invited [the] U.N. commissioner for human rights. I am here to assess the human rights situation and to see how the United Nations can help to advance human protection here,"

However, reports state that the Mugabe's party has chosen NGOs to meet Navi Pillay at a planned meeting at the ministry of justice. Thirty-six civil society groups have, in a statement released Monday, said they would boycott the meeting in protest at Mugabe's attempt to present a "fraudulent" image of human rights in Zimbabwe.  

A road side bomb exploded in a suburb of Damascus, as UN observers was nearby, touring the area.

The blast detonated about 150 meters away from the visiting UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous and chief of the UN observers in Syria Maj. Gen. Robert Mood.

An UN observer team, numbering over 250, has failed to stop the bloodshed in Syria, with violence raging unabated in several cities across Syria.

"The city (Douma) is completely paralyzed," Ladsous said. "There is still some fighting taking place. ... It's absolutely imperative that all parties exercise restraint and don't engage into any more fighting. It serves nothing."

The South African Department of Trade and Industry are preparing a proposal, prohibiting the labelling of products from Jewish settlement in the West Bank as Israeli.

Trade Minister Rob Davies released a statement last week saying that South African customers should not be misled by the incorrect labelling of products originating from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israel slammed the decision, saying such measures are not proposed about other countries where territorial conflicts exist.

“All these things are characteristic of racism,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Sunday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel would summon the South African ambassador to protest the proposal by the government.

Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, praised the South African step, saying it constituted “a genuine challenge to Israel on its continuous violation of international law and the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Palestinian lobby groups in South Africa called the decision taken by Davies as “significant,” In a joint statement released on Sunday, adding that it would “render Israeli trade with South Africa far more difficult and is a serious setback for Israeli companies wanting to do business in South Africa.”

Over 50 world leaders have gathered in Chicago to discuss the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014.

The biggest ever summit of the alliance is the first ever to be held on US soil.

"Our summit has three key priorities: keeping Afghanistan secure now and in the years to come, keeping NATO strong and capable in the 21st century and keeping our global network of partners solid," NATO chief Anders Rasmussen told reporters.

Rasmussen denied claims that there will be early withdrawals by NATO members, although reports indicate France’s intention to pull out early.

"There will be no rush for the exits. We will stay committed to our operation in Afghanistan and see it through to a successful end."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will also be in attendance at the summit.

Member states are planning to withdraw their forces and handover control of t=security to their Afghan counterparts by the end of 2014.

"This (summit) will be a powerful demonstration of the commitment of the whole international community to the future of Afghanistan," Rasmussen said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday:

"Germany supports NATO's idea: We went into Afghanistan together and we want to withdraw from Afghanistan together.

"I think France will make it clear at the summit what form its commitment will take. I think we still need to wait a little bit longer. We would hope that France would stay within ISAF."

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has left China on a flight to the United States according to news reports.

The blind activist was taken to Beijing airport along with his wife and two children and boarded a flight to Newark, New Jersey.

"Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind," Mr Chen told the Associated Press news agency from the terminal.

Mr Chen fled house arrest in a daring night time escape and sought refuge in the US embassy in Beijing.

Six days after his escape he agreed to leave the embassy after his family and associates were beaten and abused by state officials.

After intense diplomatic negotiations China said it would allow Cheng to leave the country.

Chen earlier told Reuters by telephone:

"I'm at the airport now. I've already left the hospital. But there are many things that are still unclear.

"Yes, I might be heading for a flight to the United States, but I haven't been told, and I haven't received our passports, so I'm not sure yet. We're waiting to find out what's happening."

But Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch said his family and friends were still under pressure by the Chinese government.

"This is a reflection of the fact that there is no room for human rights defenders in China. We don't know if this will turn into a temporary stay or exile, but in either case, it begs the questions why someone like Chen Guangcheng cannot freely operate in China. What is it that stops the authorities from tolerating or even embracing someone like Chen?"

A third Mexican general is being held by Mexican authorities over alleged link to drug smuggling cartels.

Gen Ricardo Escorcia Vargas, Gen Thomas Angeles Dauahara and Gen Roberto Dawe Gonzales are suspected of connections to the Beltran Leyva cartel.

President Felipe Calderon launched a war on drugs 6 years ago, with troops deployed all over the country.

The generals all occupied important posts in the government's anti-drugs effort.

Gen Angeles was assistance defence minister from 2006-2008, Gen Dawe was commander of an army division and Gen Escorcia was in charge of the military in Morelos, the state were Beltran Leyva is based.

Drugs related violence since 2006 has cost over 50,000 lives in Mexico.

“I’m not against the suspension of sanctions as long as the people of the United States feel that this is the right thing to do at the moment… I believe sanctions have been effective in persuading the government to go for change.”

"There should be no political prisoners in Burma if they really aim for democratization.”

Syrian forces shot two protesters in southern district of Damascus, Tadamun, on Friday reported Reuters.

The incident occured, as Syrian forces fired into the air at the second day of large-scale protests in the city of Aleppo in an attempt to break up the protest. On Thursday, the Aleppo protest was reportedly witnessed by UN monitors, before the Syrian security forces moved them away.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Major General Robert Mood, of the UN monitoring team, said,

"No volume of observers can achieve a progressive drop and a permanent end to the violence if the commitment to give dialogue a chance is not genuine by from all internal and external actors."

On Monday, an UN convoy, escorting unarmed UN monitors, came under attack during a government crackdown on protesters in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria.

Police in the southern Indian state of Kerala have charged two Italian marines with murder of two Indian fishermen.

The marines were guarding an Italian oil tanker off the coast of Kerala in February when they shot the fishermen, mistaking them for pirates.

Italy claims the incident took place in international waters and the men should be tried in an Italian court.

Rome has paid Rs 10m in compensation to each of the two fishermen’s families and in return the families withdrew civil cases against the marines.

Initially India claimed the incident took place in its territorial waters and the marines should be tried in India, but recently conceded it occurred in international waters and Kerala’s police had no jurisdiction over the men.

However, Kerala’s state government has refused to release the men, stating they should be tried under local law.

Italy has now withdrawn its ambassador to India in protest, as the diplomatic row worsens.

The United Nations Security Council has imposed a travel ban on five of the leaders of the coup in April this year.

The council "demands that the Military Command takes immediate steps to restore and respect constitutional order, including a democratic electoral process, by ensuring that all soldiers return to the barracks, and that members of the 'Military Command' relinquish their positions of authority."

The 15-member council said it will consider further sanctions, "such as an embargo on arms and financial measures."

The measures are the first sanctions imposed by the Security Council since it imposed sanctions on Libya while Gaddafi was in power.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of a return to constitutional order, in order to "send a clear and principled message against unconstitutional seizures of power."

The UK is reluctant to host Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the London Olympics, reported the IRNA news agency on Thursday.

Ahmadinejad, who would reportedly like to be "beside the Iranian athletes", has faced increasing international isolation over the country's nuclear program, with an oil embargo, sanctions, and embassy closures.

Officials at the British Foreign Office and the International Olympic Committee delined to comment.

"We give this town to the Serb people as a gift … Finally the time has come to take our revenge on the Turks [referring to Muslims] in this region."

"This was not an army out of control or under the control of someone else. Only an army strictly under the control from the top could have murdered over 7,000 people in four days."

"The VRS [the Republika Srpska army] carried out orders with incredible discipline, organisation and military efficiency … It was truly amazing feat of utter brutality."

Further video evidence shows Mladic in the town of Zepa on the 25th and 26th of July speaking to Muslim civilians being deported from the town, played by the prosecution to help “look into the mind” of the General.

Mladic is seen telling the departing Muslim civilians,

“You heard the stories about me for a very long time. Now you are looking at me. I am General Mladic.”

“They told you many things for so long about me. You have an opportunity to see me.”

“There are able-bodied people among you who have shot at me before. I forgive you all and am giving you your life as a present. Don’t’ come before me at the front line. Next time there won’t be any forgiveness.”

“You who are of military age, do not go to the front. No more forgiveness. Now I am giving you your life as a gift."

The US has announced the appointment of Derek Mitchell as the first ambassador to Burma in 22 years.

In a statement, President Obama hailed the beginning of a ‘new chapter’’ in US-Burmese relations.

The president told the US Congress the administration continues "to have concerns, including remaining political prisoners, ongoing conflict and serious human rights abuses in ethnic areas".

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday announced the relaxing of some of the sanctions on investment and diplomatic relations, after a meeting with Burma's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.

"Today we say to American businesses, invest in Burma, and do it responsibly."

"We will be keeping the relevant laws on the books as an insurance policy, but our goal and our commitment is to move as rapidly as we can to expand business and investment opportunities," she said at a joint press conference.