The former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic was accused of intending to ‘ethnically cleanse’ Bosnia of Bosniaks and Croats, the court heard on the first day of his trial.

Mladic is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocide.

The former army general is accused of commanding Serb troops who killed over 8000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 and in connection with the 44-month siege of Sarajevo during which over 10,000 people died.

"Four days ago marked two decades since Ratko Mladic became the commander of the main staff of the army of Republika Srpska - the VRS," said prosecutor Dermot Groome.

"On that day, Mladic began his full participation in a criminal endeavour that was already in progress. On that day, he assumed the mantle of realising through military might the criminal goals of ethnically cleansing much of Bosnia. On that day, he commenced his direct involvement in serious international crimes."

Mr Groome said the attacks by Mladic’s forces where part of a systematic plan to ethnically cleanse non-Serbs from majority-Serb parts of Bosnia.

Mr Groome said crimes of sexual violence were integral to the process of "taking over and ethnically cleansing Bosnia".

"While women were most often targeted for such crimes of terrible violation, men were also victims," he said.

The Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff has inaugurated a truth commission to investigate human rights abuses from 1946-1988, including those committed during military rule.

However, an amnesty law, passed by the military regime in 1979, means that no one can face prosecution for crimes committed during military rule.

"Brazil deserves the truth, new generations deserve the truth, and - above all - those who lost friends and relatives and who continue to suffer as if they were dying again each day deserve the truth," President Rousseff said.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said the commission is "a necessary and very hopeful step".

Over 500 people are thought to have been killed or disappeared in Brazil during the years under military rule. Thousands were tortured, exiled or deprived of their political rights.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two rebel leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he is seeking the arrest of Bosco Ntaganda and Sylvestre Mudacumura, both of whom are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

“When impunity prevails, persons like Bosco Ntaganda are encouraged to continue committing crimes. They increase their power through violence... Now more than ever is the time to arrest him," an ICC statement says.

General Ntaganda, also known as ‘The Terminator’, a former member of the armed forces, is now charged with three counts of crimes against humanity and four counts of war crimes, including murder, rape and ethnic persecution.

Mr Mudacumura is the field commander of the FDLR, a group that is accused of taking part in the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.

He is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity and nine counts of war crimes.

File Photo (EUNAVFOR)

Naval forces of the European Union have conducted raids on Somali territory for the first time.

Several boats were destroyed when EU helicopters and two warships attacked pirate bases near the town of Haradhere.

A statement released by the European Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) said no injuries were sustained by either side during the raid.

“The focused, precise and proportionate action was conducted from the air and all forces returned safely to EU warships on completion. Whilst assessment is on-going, surveillance of the area during the action indicates that no Somalis were injured ashore as a result of EU action.”

The Operation Commander of the EU Naval Force, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts said

“We believe this action by the EU Naval Force will further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates’ efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows.

"The local Somali people and fishermen – many of whom have suffered so much because of piracy in the region, can be reassured that our focus was on known pirate supplies and will remain so in the future.”

Bile Hussein, a pirate commander, told the Reuters news agency that speed boats, fuel depots and an arms store were targeted in the attacks.

"They destroyed our equipment to ashes. It was a key supplies centre for us. The fuel contributed to the flames and destruction. Nothing was spared."

Somali pirates have hijacked vessels across the IndianOcean and have demanded huge sums in ransom payments.

Around 17 ships and 300 crew members are thought to be currently held by the pirates.

India's former foreign minister and leader of the opposition BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), Yashwant Sinha, called on the UK to withdraw its aid money stating that India did not need "that kind of assistance or advice".

Welcoming the Indian finance minister's comments that UK aid was "peanuts" relative to India's overall budget, Sinha said,

“You can tell the British public from our side that they can keep their money, use it for their own welfare, or divert it to some other country which is in greater need.”

“[Aid] gives an opportunity to those countries who are giving us small sums of money to be sanctimonious in their approach, ‘India should do this, India should do that’. We don’t need that kind of assistance or advice,”

“There are problems in the UK and US but we are not rushing there with our aid saying, ‘We will fix it for you’.”

“We have malnourished children, we have disease, we have poverty but these are our problems and we should fix them.”

“We are producing so much food that we have run short of hessian bags and storage. Malnutrition is not because we don’t have resources.”

NATO has criticised a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), urging it to investigate civilian deaths from air strikes during the alliance’s offensive against Colonel Gaddafi’s forces.

HRW claims in its report released on Monday that over 72 civilians were killed in 8 separate NATO air strikes.

“We're calling for prompt, credible and thorough investigations," HRW's Fred Abrahams told BBC News.

"Until now, NATO has taken a position of denial [...] I think it will lead to unnecessary civilian deaths in the future if NATO refuses to look at what went wrong and make corrections."

NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said the alliance conducted the offensive "with unprecedented care and precision" and that they "did everything possible to minimise risks to civilians".

"But in a complex military campaign, that risk can never be zero," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu acknowledged.

She added that the alliance "looked into each credible allegation" of attacks on civilians and "confirmed that the specific targets struck by NATO were legitimate military targets".

European Union foreign ministers have failed to agree whether to boycott the Ukraine during the forthcoming Euro 2012 football tournament, due to the treatment of former Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko by the government.

"We are not at a stage to make a decision on attendance but will follow developments carefully," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton

According to AFP "long and heated" talks took place between the bloc's 27 foreign ministers, with some countries pushing for a total boycott and others preferring to engage with the Ukraine to make progress on human rights issues.

"I will listen to news the prime minister will bring tomorrow," she added, referring to diplomatically sensitive talks Tuesday between Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and EU officials.

The US ambassador to the Ukraine visited Ms Tymoshenko in hospital on Monday and has called for her release.

Ambassador John Tefft said the U.S. position “has been all along that selective persecution of Ms. Tymoshenko and members of her party is something we disapprove.”

Boycott forces Ukraine to postpone summit (09 May 2012)

Pressure increases on Ukraine over Euro 2012 boycott (03 May 2012)

German President cancels visit to Ukraine over treatment of ex-Premier (26 Apr 2012)

China joined Japan and South Korea in condemnation of any further nuclear testing by North Korea.

Following a summit held in Beijing on Sunday between the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, the Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, and Lee Myung Bak of South Korea, the three countries deemed any future tests as "unacceptable".

Speaking to reporters after the meeting Lee Myung Bak said,

“Our three countries agreed that we will not accept further nuclear tests or further provocations from North Korea,”

Warning of "unstable" elements in the region, Wen Jiabao said,

“The various parties need to use their wisdom, keep patient, and display goodwill to the greatest extent so as to ease confrontation and return to the right track of dialogue and negotiations.”

Yoshihiko Noda said,

“We should further prevent provocations of North Korea in the future and strengthen co-operation among the three countries in this regard,”

Israel faced increasing calls to take action on over 2000 Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike, including two who have refused food for 77 days, amid concerns for their health.

Palestinian groups state that a further six Palestinians are in a "critical" condition.

Egyptian mediators have continued attempts to negiotiate a deal in an effort to prevent current demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank spiralling if one of the hunger striker was to die.

The Middle East peace envoy, the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, said he was "increasingly concerned about the deteriorating health conditions" of the hunger strikers and called on Israel to "take all necessary measures to prevent a tragic outcome that could have serious implications for stability and security conditions on the ground."

Having appealed to the US Secretary of State Hiliary Clinton to intervene, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, described the situation as "very dangerous".

Speaking to Reuters Abbas said,

"If anyone dies … it would be a disaster and no one could control the situation."

The hunger strikes main demands are to end 'administrative detention' (imprisonment without trial or charge); to end solitary confinement; to end to strip searches and night-time raids on prisoners in their cells, as well as allowing families from Gaza to visit prisoners in Israeli jails and access to educational resources.

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) states that no one's life is at risk.

The former head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party has been indicted by a war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh.

Ghulam Azam, 89, is accused of carrying out war crimes during Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan.

Azam is thought to have led pro-Pakistani militias which carried out atrocities during the 9-month war in 1971.

"The International Crimes Tribunal charged him with crimes against humanity, genocide, murder, rape, abduction, arson and other crimes under international law," state prosecutor Ziad Al Malum told AFP.

Mr Azam has pleaded not guilty to all charges and argued that they are politically motivated.

The tribunal was set up by the ruling Awami League to bring to justice those accused of collaborating with Pakistan during the war, however New York based NGO Human Rights Watch have said that the procedures of the tribunal fall short of international standards.

The US will resume the sale of some military equipment to Bahrain, the State Department announced Friday, whilst recognising  "a number of serious unresolved human rights issues".

Speaking to The Washington Post, a senior official said,

“our desire to help the Bahrainis maintain their external defense capabilities, and a determination that it is in U.S. national interest to let these things go forward,”

US officials have declined to release a full list of equipment that will be approved for sale, however one official reportedly said items that “used against protesters in any scenario" would not be sold.

The listing of restrictions has sparked controversy however, with Tom Malinowski, Washington director for Human Rights Watch describing it as "short-sighted", and a US senator, Sen. Ron Wyden, stating it was "exactly the wrong time to be selling arms to the government of Bahrain."

Wyden added,

“Things are getting worse, not better. . . . Reform is the ultimate goal and we should be using every tool and every bit of leverage we have to achieve that goal.”

The decision came a few days after Bahrain's crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa met with Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

Members of the Syrian National Council (SNC) an alliance of groups fighting in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, commenced three days of talks on Saturday, in Rome.

Representatives of the various groups remain in disagreement regarding the future leadership of the current President of the SNC, Burhan Ghalioun.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency in Rome, Samir Nashir, a representative of the Dasmascus Declaration group, expressed support for a change of leadership. Nashir said,

"We are in heated discussions over the presidency ... We are against an extension or a renewal of Burhan Ghalioun's term,"

"We are in favour of transition because it gives all the various Syrian political components a chance in the post,"

"The SNC wants to send a clear message to all components of the Syrian community, Alawite, Christians, Druze and all the minorities, that the SNC is not a council for Muslims only as the regime seeks to portray it,"

The Italian governmnent said the talks were arranged to "guarantee them [opposition activists] the chance to meet, dialogue and broaden participation, religious and otherwise, of anti-regime figures."

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase has urged share holders to vote against proposals calling on the bank to stop investing in firms that "substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity."

JPMorgan has a big stake in Chinese oil firm PetroChina, which has been condemned for financing genocide in Sudan.

Investors against Genocide, a non-profit organisation, said the $1.8 billion investment by JPMorgan in PetroChina “works against the spirit” of US sanctions on the Sudanese regime.

However the bank says it its business practices already "reflect our support and respect for the protection of fundamental human rights and the prevention of crimes against humanity" and noted that "a vast majority" of the shares of PetroChina owned by JPMorgan are "at the direction of our customers, who are the share owners."

Investors against Genocide argue that a huge share of PetroChina holdings is linked to JPMorgan’s wealth management business and that most customers will not be involved in choosing where their wealth is invested.

That means those investors are "inadvertently investing in these terrible companies that are helping to fund genocide and have no idea," said Eric Cohen, co-founder and chairman of Investors Against Genocide.

Last year a similar proposal by the group got 8% of JPMorgan's shareholder votes.