The US has pledged $450 million to Egypt in ordering to help improve the fragile Egyptian economy.

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who is currently visiting Egypt, announced the assistance whilst stressing the need for "more hard work".

Speaking to the Egpytian president Mr Morsi, Kerry urged him to ensure that April's elections for free, fair and transparent. The elections are being boycotted by the main opposition group due to on-going mass pro-democracy protests.

A United Nations official has welcomed a ruling in Cambodia's genocide tribunal that will allow crimes of sexual violence committed during the Khmer Rouge regime to be tried.

The UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, welcomed the move that will see crimes of forced marriage and rape included against three former regime officials on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Bangura said,

A Somalian court has dropped charges against a woman sentenced for alleging she was raped by security forces.

The woman was originally given a one-year jail sentence, alongside Abdiaziz Abdinur, the journalist who had interviewed her about her ordeal, for 'falsely accusing a government body of committing a crime that damages state security.'

The US Secretary of State John Kerry will urge the the need for political consensus in order to reach an IMF loan, reports Reuters citing a senior US official.

"His basic message is it's very important to the new Egypt for there to be a firm economic foundation,"

The British Parliament unanimously chose to officially recognise the campaign of killing of Kurds in Iraq as a genocide this week, a decision hailed by Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani.

The decision was taken by the British House of Commons after a year long campaign by activists, which involved gathering 28,000 signatures for a petition.

The move was welcomed by Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani, who said,

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), led by Nato, has apologised for killing two Afghan boys, who were mistaken for insurgents.

A helicopter opened fire on the boys, who were herding cattle in Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan.

Isaf spokesman, Brigadier General Gunter Katz said: "The two boys were killed when our forces fired at what they thought were insurgent forces."

The al-Qaeda commander behind the Algerian hostage attack in January has been killed by Chadian soldiers in Mali, Chad's military said on Saturday.

In a statement read on national television, the army said:

"On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base (...) The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar,"

A Japanese court has jailed two members of the US Navy for the rape of a Japanese woman on Okinawa.
Christopher Browning and Skyler Dozierwalker were sentenced to ten and nine years in prison respectively.

The judge at Naha district court said the sailors, who both pleaded guilty, were "contemptible and violent".

"The ruling may seem severe, but the damage to the feelings of the victim and residents is more severe," Judge Hideyuki Suzuki was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying.

Pro-democracy activist, Zainab al-Khawaja has been sentenced by a Bahraini court to three months in jail for "insulting and humilating a public employee".

She received her sentence after a court of appeal overturned a previous aquittal.

This week the UN Human Rights Council issued a statement condemning "the continued harassment and imprisonment of persons exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression in Bahrain".

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Obama administration to ban antipersonnel landmines, on the Mine Ban Treaty's 14th anniversary.

The Mine Ban Treaty, which comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel landmines and requires their clearance and assistance to victims, entered into force in 1999, and was signed by 161 nations including the EU and all NATO members except the US.

Arms director at HRW, Steeve Goose said: