Protesters clashed with police in Kiev after Russian was made a regional language in the predominantly Russian regions of Ukraine.

Many say the measure threatens Ukraine’s sovereignty after 20 years of independence from the former Soviet Union.

Uzbekistan withdrew from a defence alliance between Russia and former six former Soviet satellite states - Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CTSO) - on  Monday.

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry said the decision stemmed from their opposition to recent attempts to strengthen military cooperation within the CTSO.

A report by New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch has revealed widespread torture by the government.

HRW interviewed more than 200 former detainees, including women and children who were held in an "archipelago of torture centres".

Pakistan has ended an 11 month dispute that had strained relations between Washington and Islamabad, by agreeing to allow US forces to reopen supply lines across its border into Afghanistan.

The agreement was instigated by an apology issued by the US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton for the killing of 24 Pakistani troops in a Nato airstrike during the November.

Turkey scrambled six F-16 fighter jets on its border with Syria, after Syrian helicoptors flew close to its border on Saturday.

In a statement, the Turkish army said that three such incidents were observed on Saturday, however, there was no violation of Turkish airspace.

On Friday, Turkey began deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along the border.

On the 14th day of anti-government protests sparked by rising inflation in Sudan, over 1000 protesters have been arrested and detained in secret locations.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has termed the conflict in Syria a civil war and appealed for “further militarisation of the conflict [in Syria]” to be “avoided at all costs".

President Assad of Syria was previously considered for an honorary knighthood by the Queen during Tony Blair's era, reports The Times on Sunday.

Speaking to The Guardian from Turkey, exiled members of Syria’s opposition have written off UN diplomacy and talks of peace-brokering as by and large irrelevant to the crisis.

Mali’s Islamist rebel group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) have started destroying sacred shrines, after it declared control over the Northern part of Mali, including the historic town of Timbuktu.

The Danish government has decided to extradite a man, suspected of taking part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The man, named in Danish media as Emmanuel Mbarushimana, is accused of being one of the ringleaders of massacres by Hutus against ethnic Tutsis.

Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been warned for referring to the country as ‘Burma’ instead of ‘Myanmar’ by government officials.

The comments come in the midst of Suu Kyi’s European tour, during which she has repeatedly used the term Burma in speeches and interviews.

UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan has called for a transitional government to be established in Syria.

The UN brokered peace plan, which calls for the creation of a transitional government in Syria, was accepted after talks in Geneva, attended by Russia, China and western countries.

Australia’s Senate has voted down an asylum bill which would have reopened an off-shore detention centre and allowed the Australian government to deport asylum-seekers to another country for processing.