The United States said the judgment delivered a strong message to all

perpetrators

of atrocities that they would be held accountable.

Coordinated bomb attacks on newspaper offices in two Nigerian cities have killed at least seven people. It follows a warning to journalists last month from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram not to

misrepresent

it. Mark Lobel reports from Lagos.

In the capital Abuja, a car carrying explosives sped through the gate of ThisDay newspaper's offices and entered the building. Following an explosion, several people were killed, and parts of the building and printing press were destroyed. Around the same time in Kaduna state, a man was forced from his car after arousing suspicion as he approached offices which house three newspapers, including ThisDay. In the ensuing drama, the driver threw an explosive from the boot. Several people were killed, and the bomber was arrested.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he's gravely alarmed at reports from Syria that the government was continuing to shell populated areas. He said the UN ceasefire monitors had reported that the Syrian government was

in contravention of

the peace plan it had agreed to and which had been endorsed unanimously by the Security Council.

A suicide car bomb attack on a coffee shop in the central Iraqi province of Diyala has killed at least eight people. Police said more than 15 people were wounded in the attack, which happened on a mainly Sunni village on the outskirts of Baquba, some 60km from the capital Baghdad.