The former head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party has been indicted by a war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh.

Ghulam Azam, 89, is accused of carrying out war crimes during Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan.

Azam is thought to have led pro-Pakistani militias which carried out atrocities during the 9-month war in 1971.

The US will resume the sale of some military equipment to Bahrain, the State Department announced Friday, whilst recognising  "a number of serious unresolved human rights issues".

Speaking to The Washington Post, a senior official said,

Members of the Syrian National Council (SNC) an alliance of groups fighting in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, commenced three days of talks on Saturday, in Rome.

Representatives of the various groups remain in disagreement regarding the future leadership of the current President of the SNC, Burhan Ghalioun.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency in Rome, Samir Nashir, a representative of the Dasmascus Declaration group, expressed support for a change of leadership. Nashir said,

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase has urged share holders to vote against proposals calling on the bank to stop investing in firms that "substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity."

JPMorgan has a big stake in Chinese oil firm PetroChina, which has been condemned for financing genocide in Sudan.

The former commander of the Dutchbat peacekeeping forces in Bosnia may be prosecuted for the massacre in Srebrenica in 1995.

Colonel Thom Karremans was in charge of the troops responsible for the protection of a Muslim enclave in a Serb-Christian region. However the peacekeepers allowed Serb soldiers to take control of the town who then went on to massacres of over 8000 Muslim men and boys.

The National Reflection Committee has now advised Dutch prosecutors to bring charges against the colonel, although prosecutors do not have to follow the advice.

The UN has published global guidelines on ‘land grabbing’, the purchase of land by rich nations and foreign companies in developing countries.

The guidelines, which are non-binding, call on governments to safeguard the rights of the indigenous population which uses the land.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, condemned Sudan's "indisciminate" aerial bombing of South Sudan on Friday, and warned that such actions could be considered "an international crime".

Speaking to reporters during a visit to South Sudan this week, Pillay said,

"I am saddened and outraged to learn that such attacks which place civilians at great risk - and have already killed and injured some and caused many thousands of others to flee - have been taking place again in recent days."

A bank has become the first Chinese firm to be given approval by the US to acquire a US bank.

State owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) plans to take over the US subsidiary of the Bank of East Asia have been approved by the US Federal Reserve.

Recordings of phone calls made during the first few days of the Libyan unrest provide evidence of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi ordering the killings of suspected opposition activists.

Over 12,000 messages were picked up in intercepted messages between the former Libyan Prime Minister, Al Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, and a loyalist Tayeb al-Safi.

According to one transcript, released by Al Jazeera, Saif al-Islam can be heard instructing al-Safi to "take care of the Gamal Abdel Nasser base in Tobruk".

Bomb blasts in the Syrian capital Damascus, which have killed at least 55 people and wounded another 400, have drawn international condemnation.

The UN Security Council condemned the attacks and urged all sides to 'immediately and comprehensively' implement UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan for Syria.

Syrian officials blamed the car bombs near a military intelligence office on ‘foreign-backed terrorists’.