Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has met with seven members of the opposition Syrian National Council at a meeting in Geneva , discussing ideas to strengthen Syria’s transition towards democracy. It is only the second time that Clinton has met with the Syrian opposition, having first met with representatives at the State Department in August, shortly before the US called on Assad to step down. In the meeting Clinton told the opposition, "A democratic transition includes more than removing the Assad regime. It means setting Syria on the path of the rule of law and protecting the...

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. Calling on the government to grant immediate access to UN staff to enable an independent assessment of the human rights situation on the ground, Pillay reiterated that violations must be made public via an independent investigation. Speaking in Geneva on Tuesday, she said, “Unarmed civilians, including very young children, have been shot and left dead or with serious...

Former Ivory Coast President, Laurent Gbagbo, became the first ex-head of state to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, as Chief ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, vowed that justice would not stop there and all those responsible for atrocities would be held to account. In a statement, Moreno-Ocampo said, " In the past, if you were a head of state you could commit massive atrocities and nothing would happen." " This era is gone ." “ Ivorian victims will see justice for massive crimes ,” "We have evidence that the violence did not happen by chance: widespread and systematic attacks against civilians perceived as supporting the other candidate were the result of a deliberate policy ,” He added that investigations into the violence will continue and Gbagbo was " only the first " to face justice. Meanwhile, Gbagbo has claimed he was "deceived" into being transferred to The Hague. Gbagbo told the court he had been told he was going to meet a judge in the north-eastern town of Korhogo when an arrest warrant was produced. " My lawyers were not prepared for that ," he said, adding that the he was only made aware of his journey to The Hague upon arrival at the airport.

The European Union has mediated a deal between Kosovo and Serbia to jointly manage their border crossings. "The parties reached an agreement on the EU-developed concept of integrated management for crossing points," the EU said in a statement late on Friday. "This means that the parties will gradually set up the joint, integrated, single and secure posts at all their common crossing points." Sporadic clashes have broken out between NATO troops and Serbs in Northern Kosovo, over who manages the border. Serbian President Tadic Boris Tadic welcomed the deal and called on Serbs to dismantle...