The Dutch government has issued a formal apology for the massacre of villagers in Java in 1947.

On the 64th anniversary of the killings, Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia, Tjeerd de Zwaan, attended a memorial event at the Heroe’s Cemetery in Rawagede, the site of the massacre.

The Taliban’s deputy leader, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad has announced they are in talks with the government of Pakistan.

The announcement is likely to exacerbate tensions between the US and Pakistan, already at a critical point after the recent deaths of Pakistani troops in a NATO attack.

The Libyan government has given British police the go-ahead to conduct inquiries into the Lockerbie bombing and the killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher.

Scottish detectives will travel to Libya to interview Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was convicted for involvement in th Lockerbie bombing in 1988.

Writing in The Christian Science Monitor, former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, reflected on the work of the UN Human Rights Council and urges further action.

Extracts reproduced below, see here for full article.

"More consequential to the Council’s effectiveness than its composition has been the fact that many Council members – from all regions of the world – have begun to break free from the regional straightjackets of the past and worked together to advance human rights."

"The regional bloc voting practices of the past are giving way to more considered discussion and collective action. This engagement on the part of countries has helped to make the Council more effective and progressive than other human rights institutions."

"Council action in response to the human rights situations in Iran, Libya, and Syria has, in each case, been possible due to the support of countries from Africa and Latin America, and even from within the Middle East."

"It is true that conducting effective diplomacy and changing political dynamics is hard, but working to find agreement with countries that have disparate worldviews has always been a difficult endeavor. Nevertheless, it is important and worthwhile."

United Russia, the nationalist party backing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin saw its representation slashed from 315 to 238 seats out of 450 in Sunday’s polls.

A new development program in the restive Indonesian province of Papua may be allowed to be scrutinised by international observers.

Indonesian Vice-President Boediono told journalists that the Papuan conflict can be managed by the government.

The new programme has been established to improve welfare, security and justice.

The prosecutor for the UN tribunal on the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Hassan Jallow, asserted that remaining fugitives will face justice.

Addressing the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Jallow asserted that arresting the remaining nine fugitives would serve the "interests of international justice and regional peace and security".

The UN Security Council today toughened its sanctions against Eritrea after the East African country was accused of supporting militants in neighbouring Somalia.

Foreign companies involved in Eritrea’s mining operations must now ensure funds from the sector do not end up in the hands of militants.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, condemned the killing of unarmed civilians by the Yemeni government and asserted the government's obligation to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of all Yemenis.