Charles Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war at The Hague today.

Taylor was convicted on 11 counts including murder, rape and terror, after a trial that has lasted almost five years.
 
Welcoming the judgment, prosecutor Brenda Hollis said,

"[This] judgment reinforces the new reality, that heads of state will be held to account for war crimes ... With leadership comes not just power and authority, but also responsibility and accountability. No person, no matter how powerful, is above the law."

The conviction was hailed as the first former head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremburg trials of Nazi leaders.

In a statement, Amnesty International said,

"While today's conviction brings some measure of justice to the people of Sierra Leone, Taylor and the others sentenced by the Special Court are just the tip of the iceberg."

The US State Department said,

"[it sent] a strong message to all perpetrators of atrocities, including those in the highest positions of power, that they will be held accountable".

France says it will seek UN intervention, including the possibility of a military intervention, if Syria does not follow special envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that France could press for Security Council action under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, although Russia and China would most certainly veto any move against Bashar al-Assad.

US President Barack Obama has signed an executive order for sanctions against regimes that use technology to perpetrate human rights abuses.

In a speech at the US Holocaust Museum, Mr Obama said,

The Canadian Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff, described the creation of an independent Quebec as inevitable, in an interview with the BBC.

Commenting on the upcoming referendum over Scottish independence, Ignatieff said that regardless of the outcome the UK will change.

Ignatieff said,

Iran’s aerospatial division commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced that they have built a drone from the recovered “codes” of RQ-170 Sentinal, a U.S surveillance drone that went down last December.

US officials have acknowledged that it went down while it was on a spy mission over Iran.

Three members of a Channel 4 televsion crew working in Bahrain were deported by the government on Monday.

Channel 4's foreign correspondent, Jonathan Miller, cameraman Joe Sheffer and producer David Fuller were detained by Bahraini authorities on suspicion of working without formal accreditation.

The European Union has announced the suspension of most sanctions on Burma for one year in recognition of ‘historic changes’.

The EU will suspend its restrictions against individuals and companies based in Burma and also withheld aid money. However its embargo on arms sales will remain.

The New Zealand government has approved the sale of 16 dairy farms to a Chinese investor, Shanghai Pengxin, despite facing strong criticism from local farmers and businessmen. 

The government's decision to allow a foreign investor to acquire land has proved contentious across New Zealand, where agriculture plays a significant role in export earnings.

Extracts from a fascinating article by The New York Times last on Syria’s Kurds.

As tens of thousands from Bahrain’s Shia community demonstrated against this weekend’s Formula 1 race being held amid ongoing violent repression by the ruling Sunni dynasty, how did Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa justify why the race should go ahead?

The UN Security Council voted unanimously in favour of adopting a Russia-European resolution authorises the deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria, to be known as UNSMIS.

The move comes less than day after UN ceasefire monitors entered the city of Homs.

Israel fell silent on Holocaust Memorial Day on Thursday, as the nation remembered six million Jews killed by Nazi during the course of the Second World War.

Official commemorations commenced late on Wednesday with a ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Israel.

The leader of the UK's opposition, Labour party, Ed Milliband, joined calls to cancel the Bahrain Grand Prix given the on-going reports of the state's violent crack down of legitimate protesters. 

Milliband said,

"I certainly think it is the case that, given the violence we have seen in Bahrain and given the human rights abuses, I don't believe the Grand Prix should go ahead."

"I hope that the Government will make its view clear and say the same."

His remarks add to those of several politicians and human rights activists, including the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, and the shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who urged British Formula One driver, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamiliton to boycott the event.

European Union diplomats are said to have agreed to suspend sanctions on Burma for one year.

An unidentified official told AFP that the suspension would give the EU time to monitor political reform.

The agreement would still have to be formally approved by EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Monday.