To the surprise of all concerned, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on Monday, stating that given his age and physical health he "had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me".

Becoming the first pope to resign in over 600 years, the news has shocked the Catholic church.

Speaking in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI said:

Hundreds of protesters marched to Egypt's presidential palace on the second anniversary of the fall of Hosni Mubarak, causing clashes with security forces.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons on the stone throwing protesters marching against current president Mohamed Morsi.

Opposition groups state that President Morsi has betrayed the revolution and shouted slogans calling for his ousting as well as spraying graffiti on the palace walls.

An explosion on a minibus near the Cilvegozu border post on the Turkish side of its border with Syria has killed 13 people.

"It was a powerful explosion. But whether this was a vehicle laden with explosives or another type of explosion, I think, at the latest, will become clear tomorrow," said Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc.

"All possibilities are on the table, including political motives."

For the first time since July 2011, the Bahraini government and opposition held talks to try to solve the political deadlock and mass protests.

The protesters, mainly of Bahrain's Shi'ite majority, had demanded that the Sunni ruling family create a consitutional monarchy and call for elections.

Speaking to journalists after the talks, opposition negotiator Abdulnabi Salman, from the Democratic Progressive Tribune group, said:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has admitted that western pressure is affecting the country and said Iran is ready to enter talks.

Both Washington and Tehran have recently dropped hints about the possibility of talks over the nuclear programme.

"You pull away the gun from the face of the Iranian nation, and I myself will enter the talks with you," Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

Swiss authorities have refused to re-open a case examining corruption accusations leveraged against Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, reported Pakistan's law ministry.

The accusations have seen Pakistan's Supreme Court take on the ruling Pakistan People's Party and called on Swiss authorities to re-open cases on Zardari and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who were alleged to have laundered at least $12 million in kickbacks through Swiss banks.

"It's worrying because the trend is pointing at exonerating political leadership from the responsibility of the genocide,"

The British Home Secretary Theresa May warned on Friday that an independent Scotland would have to earn trust before intelligence on terrorism and organised crime would be shared by other countries.

After independence, it could not expect to exchange intelligence with Westminister as currently takes place, she explained.

Criticising the Scottish National Party's plans for its own secret service, May said that they were poorly budgeted and based on "assumptions".

Twenty Tibetan protesters have been detained in the ethnic Tibetan area of Qinghai, announced the Chinese government.

The Tibeten protestors are calling for Beijing to allow greater religious freedom and the return from exile of the Dalai Lama.

A rocket attack on an Iranian dissident camp in Iraq has killed six people and injured dozens.

UN officials confirmed the attacks on Camp Hurriya, a former US base, currently used by Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MeK), an Iranian group calling for regime change in Tehran.