The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan held talks this weekend, for the first time since April.

Meeting at an African Union summit in Ethiopia, Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan's Salva Kiir discussed the disputed South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions.

According to AllAfrica, Kiir suggested that a referendum be held on the disputed region of Abeyei, however Bashir's response remains unknown.

Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Syria, creating frustration among the remaining states.

Special Envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi had said that Annan had expressed disappointment over the world powers, for failing to reach a consensus on the issue and added that "[Annan] believes that the voice of the Council is much more powerful when its members act as one."

The US senate's finance committee voted to extend the trade sanctions for a further three years on Thursday, despite the attempts of the Burmese opposition leader to work on the removal of these sanctions.

The committee's chairman Max Baucaus said,

“By reauthorizing the import sanctions for three years, we maintain the pressure on the Burmese government to undertake reforms.”

However, he added, the ban on Burmese imports, could be annulled at any time, as a reward for continued democratic reforms.

A 97-year-old man was taken into custody in Hungary on Wednesday, on suspicion of committing war crimes during the Holocaust.

The suspect, Laszlo Csatary, was questioned and charged with 'unlawful torture of human beings' - a war crime for which the maximum sentence is life in prison.

A South Sudanese long distance runner, Guor Marial, is seeking last minute permission to run as an independent athlete at the 2012 Olympics in London, as the new state of South Sudan is not yet able to send an official team to the games.

Speaking to AlertNet, Mariol said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had suggested he run for Sudan, which he vehemently rejected.

Syrian state TV has claimed three senior officials of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime have died in a suicide bomb during a meeting at the national security headquarters on Wednesday morning.

Defence Minister General Daoud Rajiha, feared security chief and Assad’s brother-in-law Gen Assef Shawkat and former defence minister and head of Assad’s crisis management office Gen Hassan Turkomani were reported killed in the blast.

After visiting the Bashabsheh refugee camp in Jordan, currently hosting 140000 refugees that have escaped the Syrian conflict, British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has stated that there can be "no impunity" for people committing human rights abuses in Syria.

He emphasised that following orders did not excuse officials and others of responsibility for war crimes.

Speaking about human rights abusers, Hague said,

The wartime leader Mahmoud Jibril has won Libya's first national elections according to results published on Tuesday.

His party, the National Forces Alliance, won 39 out of 80 seats, and the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party took 17.

Only 40% of Libya's 200 seats of Congress are reserved for political parties however. The 120 remaining seats are for individual candidtates, many of whom are believed to be supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Two former officials of the Chilean military have been arrested for the killing of General Alberto Bachelet, the father of the former president, Michelle Bachelet.

Ramon Caceres and Edgar Ceballos, formerly members of the Chilean Air Force, are charged with torturing to death Gen Bachelet, who died in 1974, after a coup led by Gen Pinochet saw the imposition of military rule in Chile.

Judge Mario Carroza said the torture aggravated the general’s heart condition which then caused his death.

Meeting the head of the Egyptian military council (Scaf), Field Marshall Tantawi, on Sunday, the US Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton urged the military make way for a civilian-led democracy.

After the meeting, Clinton said,

"Democracy is hard. It requires dialogue and compromise and real politics. We are encouraged and we want to be helpful. But we know that it is not for the United States to decide; it is for the Egyptian people to decide."