US president Barack Obama has urged China to improve its human rights record.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Obama did not answer questions about the case of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who is thought to have sought refuge in the US embassy in Beijing, but said that China would be stronger if it improves on its human rights issues.

"We think China will be stronger as it opens up and liberalises its own system," said Obama.

The British Government has announced measures to exclude individuals who are thought to have committed human rights abuses.

The new rules were announced in the Foreign Office’s annual Human Rights Report, which was released today.

At the moment, only individuals who are viewed as a threat to national security are refused entry.

Under the new measures, ‘credible’ evidence of current or past human rights abuses could allow ministers to ban non-EU citizens to enter the UK.

The Bahraini foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, urged the people of Bahrain to vote against an Al Jazeera film - 'Shouting in the Dark' - in an online poll for the UK's Bafta Television Awards this year.

'Shouting in the Dark' is a documentary on the Bahrain's crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011.

Declaring that the Indian central government is becoming less relevant to governance today, Manu Joseph writes in the New York Times, that “the very idea of “national” is also fading in a de-centralised India:

“The political supremacy of New Delhi and the central government is being challenged by state governments and other regional forces.”

The Secretary General of the United Nations is making a landmark visit to Burma.

Mr Ban is due to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and pressed the government for more democratic reforms.

The Secretary General was denied a meeting with Ms Kyi during his last visit in 2009.

Before arriving in Burma, Mr Ban said the country was "re-opening to the world".

"The fresh start is still fragile," he said in New York before leaving for Burma.

The Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is safe in US custody according to a human rights group.

US-based ChinaAid confirmed that high-level talks between Chinese and US officials are underway.

The group said in a statement it had "learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation that Chen is under US protection" in Beijing.

A former peace envoy has said that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad could face war crimes charges over the brutal crackdown by his security forces on opponents of the Syrian regime.

George Mitchell, the former US peace envoy to the Middle East, told a security conference in Dublin that Assad could face war crimes charges just like Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes by a tribunal in The Hague earlier this week.

Britain has announced restrictions on exports to the Argentine military on Thursday.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said in a statement to the House of Commons that the export controls will take effect immediately.

"The government has reviewed this policy in the light of recent actions by the Argentine government aimed at harming the economic interests of the Falkland islanders," he said.

China and the Philippines have been involved in a standoff for two weeks at the Scarborough Shoal over territorial rights, raising concerns that miscalculation by either side could result in severe consequences to that region.

The shoal is composed of 200 islands filled with fishing grounds and other natural resources which are claimed by Philippine, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam. The recent dispute between Philippine and China comes as the Philippine navy was unable to arrest Chinese fishermen poaching as a result of Chinese vessels protecting the fishermen.

German president Joachim Gauck has called off a visit to the Ukraine over the alleged mistreatment of former Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko.

German opposition politicians and some senior figures in German football have called for a boycott of the European Championships in June, which is jointly hosted by the Ukraine and Poland.

The Ukraine has ordered an investigation into the alleged beating of Tymoshenko by prison guards, after increasing pressure by the EU and Germany.

However, the investigation called by Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is seen as meaningless by observers, as a previous investigation, which concluded this week, found that Tymoshenko was not abused in prison.

Tymoshenko claimed she was beaten and transported to a hospital against her will. She suffers from a severe spinal condition, which according to German doctors who examined her, needs urgent treatment at a specialist clinic.

Germany has offered to treat the former prime minister who has also been on hunger strike for nearly a week. Prison officials have indicated that she may be force fed.

Pressure is increasing on the European football association UEFA to take action.

German opposition politicians have called for a boycott of the tournament in June; however UEFA President Michel Platini rejected any intervention.

“UEFA is not and will never be a political institution" said Platini.