The Lebanese state news agency has reported that shells from Syria have hit four Lebanese villages near the border with its neighbour.

Residents are said to have reported an “unpleasant smell” after the attacks. It is not clear whether the shells were fired by rebels or the government and whether there were any casualties.

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Pope Francis in his Easter message, his first worldwide address, urged for peace in conflict zones in the Middle East, Africa and Korea.

See here for full text. Extracts below:

North Korea announced on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency carried a statement saying:

"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly."

The comment has been brushed off by Seoul. South Korea'a Unification Ministry said:

Protests took place across the West Bank and Gaza strip, marking the 37th anniversary of "Land Day", with reports of a few injuries following clashes with Israeli security forces.

"Land Day" marks the 1976 killing of six Arab Israelis who were protesting against plans to confiscate Arab land, by the Israeli government.

Myanmar’s government rejected remarks by a United Nations human rights official that implied authorities could be held partially accountable for the recent mob attacks by Buddhists on minority Muslims that killed dozens of people.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, urged Myanmar’s government to investigate allegations that security forces watched as Buddhist mobs attacked Muslims. The official also went on to note that the government needed to do more to protect the country’s Muslims.

The new Chinese president Xi Jinping has completed the final leg of his tour of Africa in the Republic of Congo.
Xi signed a number of deals in the central African nation and said he wanted to raise Congo to “a new and higher level".

"The future, the development of China will be an unprecedented opportunity for Africa, and Africa's development will be the same for my country," he told the Congolese parliament.

A curt in Slovakia has reduced a death sentence that was previously handed down to a 98-year-old war criminal to life imprisonment, as legal battles continue.

The suspect, Laszlo Csatary, is accused of ‘unlawful torture of human beings' during World War II, where he allegedly whipped and tortured Jews before sending them to Auschwitz, as chief of an internment camp at Kosice (now part of Slovakia).

He denies all charges against him. Csatary is currently under house arrest in Hungary, after being on the run from authorities for decades.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has welcomed the creation of a special force by the UN, which will be deployed to attack rebels in the country’s east.

Lambert Mende, a spokesperson for the government told the BBC that around 2,000 soldiers would form the force and would "bring some hope of peace".

Rebels who seized power in the Central African Republic last weekend have said they will review mining contracts signed by the ousted president with Chinese and South African companies.

The rebel leader Michel Djotodia said that any unfair deal would be reviewed.

The president Francois Bozize has sought asylum in Benin after fleeing from the rebels last week.

The US Assistant Secretary for International Organisation Affairs Tori Holt discussed the prevention of atrocities and genocide with the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng.

Dieng thanked the US for Obama’s establishment of the Atrocities Prevention Board (APB) and briefed the Assistant Secretary on his international work.