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.

Charles Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war at The Hague today.

Taylor was convicted on 11 counts including murder, rape and terror, after a trial that has lasted almost five years.
 
Welcoming the judgment, prosecutor Brenda Hollis said,

"[This] judgment reinforces the new reality, that heads of state will be held to account for war crimes ... With leadership comes not just power and authority, but also responsibility and accountability. No person, no matter how powerful, is above the law."

The conviction was hailed as the first former head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremburg trials of Nazi leaders.

In a statement, Amnesty International said,

"While today's conviction brings some measure of justice to the people of Sierra Leone, Taylor and the others sentenced by the Special Court are just the tip of the iceberg."

The US State Department said,

"[it sent] a strong message to all perpetrators of atrocities, including those in the highest positions of power, that they will be held accountable".

France says it will seek UN intervention, including the possibility of a military intervention, if Syria does not follow special envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that France could press for Security Council action under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, although Russia and China would most certainly veto any move against Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Juppe called for the deployment of 300 UN observers as authorised by Syria and said France has all but set a May 5 deadline for implementation of Mr Annan’s peace plan.

US President Barack Obama has signed an executive order for sanctions against regimes that use technology to perpetrate human rights abuses.

In a speech at the US Holocaust Museum, Mr Obama said,

"National sovereignty is never a licence to slaughter your people."

The Canadian Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff, described the creation of an independent Quebec as inevitable, in an interview with the BBC.

Commenting on the upcoming referendum over Scottish independence, Ignatieff said that regardless of the outcome the UK will change.

Ignatieff said,

"It’s a kind of way station — you stop there for a while,"

"But I think the logic, eventually, is independence. Full independence."

Iran’s aerospatial division commander, Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced that they have built a drone from the recovered “codes” of RQ-170 Sentinal, a U.S surveillance drone that went down last December.

US officials have acknowledged that it went down while it was on a spy mission over Iran.

Iranian engineers claim that they were successful in hacking the control system of the unmanned aircraft, which enabled them to land the aircraft in Iranian territory.

Three members of a Channel 4 televsion crew working in Bahrain were deported by the government on Monday.

Channel 4's foreign correspondent, Jonathan Miller, cameraman Joe Sheffer and producer David Fuller were detained by Bahraini authorities on suspicion of working without formal accreditation.

According to David Fuller, due to restrictions placed by the Bahraini government, the crew had been working "under the radar", and had filmed riot police crack down on a small demonstration in a nearby village.

The European Union has announced the suspension of most sanctions on Burma for one year in recognition of ‘historic changes’.

The EU will suspend its restrictions against individuals and companies based in Burma and also withheld aid money. However its embargo on arms sales will remain.