Protests are being held in Cairo against Egypt's new draft constitution which was rushed to completion last week and is due to go before voters in a referendum scheduled for December 15th.

Egyptian riot police fired tear gas at tens of thousands of demonstrators who were gathered outside the presidential palace.

It is reported that the police retreated quickly after firing one round of gas canisters, to avoid further clashes.

The sentences of two ex-paramilitary Bosnian Serb commanders have been upheld by the International Criminal Court.

The two former members of the 'White Eagles' Serb paramilitary group, were contesting their guilty verdicts, on the back of Serbian protests against the tribunal’s unfair targeting of Serbs.

Dispelling Serbia’s allegations of unfair treatment, the war crimes tribunal upheld the life sentence handed to one of the ex-paramilitary members and reduced the second member’s life sentence by 3 years.

The UN-established International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has handed over the case of a former Army Lieutenant Colonel to Rwanda for trial – marking the last case to be transferred by the UN tribunal.

Lieutenant Colonel Phénéas Munyarugarama faces charges of genocide, incitement for genocide, murder and rape amongst others.

The British and French governments have summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries, after Israel said it would build 3,000 more settlements in Palestinian territory.

The BBC quoted a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as saying:

The head of the United Nations Peace keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) expressed disappointment at the recent suspension of Radio Okapi broadcasts, a radio station backed by the UN.

Commenting on the suspension of the Radio station, the head of the Un Organisation Stabilisation mission in DRC (MONUSCO) Roger Meece said,

The well-known spokesperson of the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Jihad al-Makdissi, is reported to have fled the country on Monday, becoming the latest in a long line of defectors.

Makdissi worked in the foreign ministry for over 10 years, and spoke eloquantly in English, making him a prominent public face within the regime.

Speaking to Reuters, a diplomatic source said: "He defected. All I can say is that he is out of Syria." He is believed to have escaped for Beirut, and heading to London.

 

Rejecting criticism from the US and Europe, on the Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu's announcement of settlement expansion, Israel reiterated its intention to build more.

An official within Netanyahu's office said:

Burmese president, Thein Sein, has appointed opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi to head a commission to investigate the brutal crushing of a protest by police forces,that left several people injured last week.

In a statement on the presidential website, President Thein outlined that the purpose of the commission was to “investigate the truth” behind the police raid.

A tribunal at The Hague has cleared former Kosovan Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj of war crimes for a second time, along with two commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

All three men were first acquitted of charges of torturing and murdering prisoners at KLA camps in 2008, before a partial retrial was announce by the tribunal two years later.

Haradinaj's lawyer, Ben Emmerson QC, said after the verdict,

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has criticised moves by Israel to allow the building of 3,000 settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Talking at a forum in Washington, in front of Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Clinton said that negotiations with Israel are the only way to a separate state for the Palestinians.

She added that the UN vote, granting Palestine non-member observer status, “should give all of us pause. All sides need to consider carefully the path ahead".