Sudan and South Sudan reached an agreement on oil on Saturday, following an extension of Thursday's deadline.

The agreement includes the exportation of South Sudanese oil through Sudan's pipelines, and the distribution of oil revenues.

Twenty people were sentenced in the Xinjiang region of China on charges of terrorism and separatism, reported China's state media - People's Daily - on Thursday.

All twenty are believed to be Uighurs - Muslim, Turkic speaking people who consider Xinjiang to be their home.

Bangladeshi authorities have told three international aid agencies to stop providing support to Rohingya refugees who arrived from neighbouring Burma.

Officials claim that the agencies are exceeding their mandate by supporting illegal migrants and that the aid was encouraging more Rohingyas to cross the border.

The UN Security Council on Thursday demanded for an end to all foreign support being given to the M23 rebels fighting against the government in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The statement voiced a “strong condemnation of any and all outside support to the M23 and demand that all support to the M23, including from outside countries, cease immediately.”

The UN Security Council deadline for Sudan and South Sudan to negotiate a peace agreement has passes, as extra time is granted to further develop negotiations.

Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam said he wants to be transferred to The Hague to face trial.

"I am not afraid to die but if you execute me after such a trial you should just call it murder and be done with it," Saif al-Islam said according to documents submitted to the ICC by his lawyers.

US President Obama, has signed a secret order authorising 'intelligence finding' assistance by the CIA and other agencies to the Syrian rebels, reports the Reuters news agency.

According Reuters the exact extent of assistance remains unclear, however, it will not include giving the rebels arms.

The Indian government has announced it will allow investment from Pakistani citizens and companies in India.

A press release by the commerce ministry said all foreign direct investment from Pakistan will need to be approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Investments cannot be made in defence, space or atomic energy.

A report by Human Rights Watch released earlier on Wednesday found that Myanmar troops shot at Muslims, committed rape and failed to protect Muslims from mobs during deadly ethnic clashes in June.

The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran’s energy sector and some financial companies.

President Obama said the existing sanctions had been made more difficult to evade “by making sanctionable the purchase or acquisition of Iranian petrochemical products".

Iran has been trying to get around sanctions, including by using gold instead of cash as payment.

South Sudan and Sudan are unlikely to reach an agreement before the UN deadline ends on Thursday.

Despite recent talks, the two states failed to find common ground on key issues such as security and oil.

Amnesty International held the Syrian government responsible for crimes against humanity in the largest city, Allepo and surrounding areas, in a report - ‘All-Out Repression’ - released on Wednesday.

Despite the obstacles imposed by the Syrian authorities the report outlined that Amnesty had been able to independently investigate the allegations of human rights violations on the ground in Syria and had established that, “the Syrian government is responsible for widespread, as well as systematic violations amounting to crimes against humanity.” 

The report concluded: “it is manifestly evident that the Syrian government has no intention of ending, let alone investigating, these crimes.”