The U.N Security Council is considering sanctions as a means to quell the fighting between South Sudan and Sudan and to prevent the escalation into a full-scale war.

Photographs of US military officers posing with the corpses of dead Afghan fighters have emerged once again.

The photographs, published in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, depict US paratroopers of the 82nd Airbourne Division grinning next to the mangled corpses of Afghan fighters.

A Libyan military commander is taking legal action against former British foreign secretary Jack Straw, over his rendition to Gaddafi’s Libya.

Formerly exiled rebel leader Abdel Hakim Belhadj says that he was kidnapped by CIA agents in Thailand, before being taken to Libya via the UK territory of Diego Garcia.

Australia has become the latest country to ease sanctions against Burma in recognition of efforts at democratic reforms.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr has announced the easing of travel and financial restrictions against around 260 Burmese nationals, including President Thein Sein.

Iran is willing to resolve nuclear issues during the next round of talks with world powers if sanctions against it are lifted, said the country's foreign minister on Monday.

Iran held nuclear negotiations in Istanbul on Saturday with the USA, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.

The US has followed Australia and the UK in easing pressure against Burma in order to encourage democratic reforms by the government.

The US treasury department announced that non-governmental organisations will now be able to carry out some humanitarian, religious and other non-profit activities.

Arab League ministers urged the Assad regime to cooperate fully with the UN's ceasefire monitors.

In a statement issued at a meeting between the Arab League and Kofi Annan (UN- Arab League special envoy to Syria), the Arab League said,

The UN Security Council voted unanimously in favour of sending a team of upto 30 unarmed military observers to Syria, in order to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire. A further deployment of UN ceasefire monitors was expected Sunday. In a resolution, the Security Council urged the Syrian government to ensure the safety of UN staff.

North Korea acknowledged that its recent rocket launch into orbit had been unsuccessful, on Friday. The rocket was in the air for a minute and a half, shorter than its previous launch, before exploding in midair. The debris from the rocket landed 165 km west of Seoul.

The UN Security Council expressed concerned over the increasing violence between South Sudan and Sudan, deeming such violence to be "a serious threat to international peace and security".

In a statement released Thursday, the UN Security Council urged both states to establish a Safe Demilitarized Border Zone and initiate a Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism.

Extracts reproduced below:

"The Security Council expresses its deep and growing alarm by the escalating conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, as manifested most recently by the seizure and occupation of the town of Heglig and its oil fields in Sudan by the SPLA. The recent violence threatens to return both countries to full-scale war and the period of tragic loss of life and suffering, destroyed infrastructure, and economic devastation, which they have worked so hard and long to overcome."

British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a suspension of EU sanctions on Burma, in recognition of its continuing democratic reforms, during the first visit by a British head of state since Burma’s independence in 1948.

Mr Cameron was speaking in Rangoon, where he met President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

US President Barack Obama has approved an aid package for Syria's rebels, a US official said on Friday. The package will include communications equipment and medical supplies.

India has overtaken China as the top customer of Iranian oil in data published by Geneva's Petrologistics.

India imported 433,000 barrels per day in the first quarter, an increase of around 23% compared ot the same period in 2011.

A day before his historic visit to Burma, Prime Minister David Cameron has praised Burma’s progress in implementing democratic reforms and said the UK may ease sanctions on the country.

Cameron said recent developments in Burma were welcome but he wanted to see the ground situation himself, to assess whether the progress was ‘irreversible’.