Fiji's ruling military has imposed new rules on political parties, raising further concerns regarding the country's move away from democracy.

According to the new rules, trade union executives and other 'public officials' are to be banned from creating political parties, and political parties are banned from accepting donations from foreign governments, companies, inter-government or non-government organisations.

Former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan has been admitted to hospital during his trial on Wednesday, making him the second leader facing trial to be taken ill and hospitalised this week.

81-year old Khieu Samphan, also known as Brother Number 2, joins 86-year old Nuon Chea, at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh. Former regime Foreign Minister Ieng Sary also stayed at the same hospital last year after he also fell ill during trial.

Both India and Pakistan have agreed to ease military tensions in Kashmir, after a recent fighting has left at least 5 soldiers dead from both sides.

A 10-minute phone call between commanders from both armies reportedly saw an agreement that tensions would not continue to rise between the two.

The agreement comes after a rise in tensions that saw a spate of killings across the Line of Control that divides Kashmir. At least 3 Pakistani soldiers and Indian soldiers have been killed in the violence, according to reports.

A US official has told reporters that the US will officially recognise the Somali government, for the first time in over 20 years.

Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson said that the news will be made official at a meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud tomorrow.

Two people were killed and 41 taken hostage by Islamist militants at a gas plant in Algeria on Wednesday.

The hostages were described as 'Western' and included British, French, Japanese and American citizens.

The group claiming responsibility told Mauritanian media that they entered Algeria from northern Mali and carried out the attack as revenge against French intervention in Mali and Algeria's cooperation.

The group which calls itself 'Signatories for Blood' said:

A Palestinian teenager was shot and killed by Israeli troops on the West Bank reports AFP.

The shooting occured near a school in the village of Budrus, where a group of students had thrown stones at the soldiers after finishing their exams.

The soldiers caught and tried to arrest 17-year-old Samir Ahmed Awad, firing six bullets when he tried to flee.

The Prime Minister of Greenland Kuupik Kleist has said that his government will not favour the EU over China or other potential investors for access to the country’s rare earth minerals.

Kleist said it would not be fair "to protect others' interests more than protecting, for instance, China's" according to the BBC.

A covert intensive investigation, by the US consul general in Istanbul, Scott Fredric Kilner, into chemical weapons in Syria has concluded that the Syrian military used them against its own people, in a deadly attack last month.

A confidential State Department cable , signed by Kilner, outlined the investigation's findings regarding chemical weapons usage in Syria. Kilner's investigation included interviews with doctors on the ground that concluded that chemical agents had been used.

The Swiss foreign minister has said Switzerland will file a petition on Monday to call on the International Criminal Court to open war crimes investigations in Syria.

“Serious war crimes are being committed in Syria. We must make sure they not go unpunished,” Didier Burkhalter told Swiss national television TSR.

“We’re submitting a proposal. Now it is up to the Security Council to decide.”

The UN Security Council and US government have given the go-ahead for M23 rebels to be involved in peace talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo government despite placing sanctions against some of the rebel leaders.

The DRC's Minster of Defence and chief facilitator of the talks, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, confirmed the continuation of peace talks with the leaders, stating: