Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued an unofficial order to stop the approval of plans for new Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Yesha Council, a group that promotes settlement construction, also stated that it had heard from Neatnyahu’s office that new settlement tenders were not being approved.

Russia and the USA have been praised by the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, after both states agreed to holding an international conference to help find a political solution to the conflict in Syria.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to meet Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Kenyan rights groups have condemned the visit to the UK, saying the invitation is a betrayal.

Kenyatta is attending a conference on Somalia, held in London this week, with Kenya being an important stakeholder in the Horn of Africa, providing nearly 5,000 troops to the country.

Turkey has called on both Canada and France to weigh up their recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide against their trading relationships with the country in recent weeks, as they push for killings to not be labelled genocide.

Carla Del Ponte of the UN independent commission of inquiry on Syria confirmed on Sunday that testimonies collected from casualties and medical staff suggest that Syrian rebels have used the nerve agent sarin. See here.

Speaking in Italian to a Swiss-Italian TV network Del Ponte said: 

German police have arrested a man accused of being a guard at the notorious Auschwitz extermination camp during the Second World War.

Hans Lipschis, 93, claims he was only a cook but prosecutors concluded there was “compelling evidence” of his involvement in crimes.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre accused Lipschis of taking part in the mass murder of Jews between October 1941 and 1945.

The crimes against humanity trial of Kenya's new vice president William Ruto was postponed on Monday by International Criminal Court judges.

The trial date was initially set for May 28th but has been postponed due to a number of administrative issues.

Ruto faces trial for three counts of crimes against humanity for his contribution to the deadly post-election violence that erupted in 2007.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Bashar al-Assad, labelling him a 'butcher' in his strongest attack on the besieged Syrian President.

Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan told a cheering crowd,

"If God permits, we will see this butcher, this murderer, receive judgement in this world... and we will praise (God) for it".

"You will pay a very, very heavy price for showing your courage to the babies in the cradle, the courage you cannot show others."

The Syrian government has accused Israel of coordinating with terrorists to carry out targeted air-strikes on Syrian soil.

In a letter, sent to the UN, the government said a number of casualties were caused by the second consecutive day of attacks.

"The flagrant Israeli attack on armed forces sites in Syria underlines the co-ordination between 'Israel', terrorist groups and... the al-Nusra Front," the letter said.

At least three people have died in clashes between police and protesters in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

A further 60 are reported injured, after up to half a million supporters of Islamist group Hefazat-e Islam took to the streets of the city calling for the hanging of aetheists and other insulters of Islam.

Rioters set fire to shops and vehicles, and police used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to drive thousands of protesters out of the city's main business district.