Saudi Arabia is preparing to give the rebel Jaysh al-Islam millions of dollars, in an attempt to defeat Bashar al-Assad’s regime and counter the increasingly powerful al-Qaeda affiliated groups in the country.

"There are two wars in Syria," said Mustafa Alani, an analyst for the Saudi-backed Gulf Research Centre, to The Guardian. "One against the Syrian regime and one against al-Qaida. Saudi Arabia is fighting both."

A British sergeant has been found guilty of murdering an Afghan insurgent, who was shot dead as he lay injured after an air strike.

Judge Blackett told the marine, identified only as Marine A:

"Marine A, this court has found you guilty of murder. The mandatory sentence prescribed by law is imprisonment for life.

The commander of the M23 rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has surrendered in Uganda, reports the BBC.

 The commander, Suiltani Makenga, is said to have, handed himself over along with hundreds of other M23 fighters to Ugandan officials.

Makenga wanted in Congo for his role in war crimes committed by his organisation.
Speaking to the BBC a Ugandan spokesperson outlined that the decision on whether or not to hand over the leader would be made after the peace deal between the rebel group and the government was signed.

The genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has been set to resume in January 2015, according to officials.

Sebastian Elgueta, Guatemala researcher at Amnesty International, responded to the events by saying,

“This decision to further delay is a letdown for genocide victims and their families who have already waited over three decades, and fought hard to ensure Ríos Montt was held to account in the courts,”

Nigerian Islamist organisation Boko Haram, may be classified as war criminals, according to the United Nations human rights office in Geneva, after being blamed for an attack on a wedding convoy.
 
Slamming the attack as "atrocious", spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Cecile Pouilly said,

“Members of Boko Haram and other groups and entities, if judged to have committed widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population, including on grounds such as religion or ethnicity, could be found guilty of crimes against humanity”.

Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, may have been poisoned with radioactive polonium, according to Swiss forensic experts.

Arafat was said to have died of a stroke, however Palestinians and others have long accused the Israeli government of poisoning him.

A report by scientists from the Vaudois University Hospital Centre (CHUV) in Lausanne said that Arafat’s exhumed body showed unusually high levels of polonium.

The Colombian government and Farc rebels reached a "fundamental agreement" according to a joint statement by the two sides on Wednesday.

The agreement would allow a "new democratic opening" for Farc to enter Colombian politics.

The Farc leader, Ivan Marquez told Reuters:

"We are completely satisfied with what we have agreed on the point of political participation,"

The Congolese M23 rebel group announced today that it was ending its armed rebellion against the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hours after government forces drove its fighters out of their last two hilltop bases of Tshanzu and Ruyoni, the group announced that it would disarm and pursue political talks.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks faced difficulties however he believed something is possible.

Addressing crowds at a memorial event for the former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a right wing Israeli in 2005, Kerry said:

"I come here without any illusions about the difficulties, but I come here determined to work,"

Long-awaited peace talks on Syria have been delayed after UN diplomats failed to agree on a date on Tuesday, diminishing the likelihood of talks happening this year.

However a senior US official told AFP that Washington was hopeful that the meeting will take place before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, BBC News spoke to Syrian presidential advisor Bouthaina Shabaan, who rejected demands for Assad’s stepping down before talks as well as “foreign or regional interference.”