The Iranian oil ministry announced on Sunday it has stopped all sales of crude oil to British and French companies.

A spokesman was quoted on the ministry’s website as saying:

"Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers. We have our own customers … The replacements for these companies have been considered by Iran."

A Chinese envoy on a visit to Syria has called on all sides to end the violence.

Zhai Jun has expressed Chinese support for the government’s plan to hold a referendum on the constitution on February 26.

However, the opposition has called for a boycott of the referendum and rejected the plans for as long as violence was still ongoing.

"The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the rebels to halt acts of violence immediately." said Zhai Jun.

The Australian parliament adopted a resolution Saturday, confirming the judgement of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, that the massacre of over 8000 Bosnian muslims in Srebenica in 1995, was a genocide.

The US, Canada, and European Union countries, have already adopted such a resolution.

The founder of France's far-right, National Front part, Le Pen, was found guilty of condoning war crimes on Thursday, and given a suspended jail sentence of three months and a fine.

In 2005, Le Pen had remarked that the Nazi occupation of France during the second world war, “not been particularly inhumane, even if there were blunders.”

A referendum by ethnic Serbs in the north of Kosovo have rejected rule by the Kosovo authority in Pristina.
Kosovo Serb election officials said 99.7% of voters rejected rule by the ethnic Albanian majority.

Serbs in the north of Kosovo have obstructed attempts by the Kosovo government to establish authority in the region and have rejected attempts by NATO forces to implement law and order.

The Kosovo government denonunced the referendum saying it "does not produce any legally and politically binding effect and as such is not valid".

The Iranian oil ministry has denied state media reports claiming it has ended exports to various EU countries in response to an EU oil embargo.

Press TV, an Iranian channel recently banned in the UK by Ofcom, claimed exports to the Netherlands, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain were cancelled.

The EU imposed an oil embargo on Iran last month, but it will only come into effect in July, due to the reliance of several EU states on Iranian oil.

“On top of this, we must end any illusion the regime has that it can act with impunity in Syria. There is no doubt that mass murder is being committed. Some 6,000 people have already been sacrificed to the regime's brutal determination to cling to power. Those carrying out these crimes may well think that they will get away with it.

Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Bahrain's capital, Manama, to mark the one-year anniversary of pro-democracy uprisings.

Protesters gathered around Pearl Square, now commonly referred to as 'Freedom Square', the epicentre of last year's demonstrations, and vowed to fight on. 

Riot police and security forces tried to curtail the protests using tear gas, after the government warned of a zero-tolerance approach to any such anti-government activity.

The Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has told reporters that China will not protect Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

The statement, which marks a significant change in tone since vetoing a UN resolution condemning the crackdown on opposition activists, is thought to be a move designed to limit damage after widespread criticism of its perceived protection of the Syrian state.

Mr Jiabao addressed reporters after talks with EU officials in Beijing.