The International Criminal Court’s historic first trial will begin today with a Congolese warlord facing six charges of recruiting and sending child soldiers to fight and die in bloody ethnic battles.

The head of human rights watchdog the Council of Europe today hailed the arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as “wonderful news”.

The half-brother of Saddam Hussein and the former head of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn today, two weeks and two days after the former dictator was executed in a disturbing scene that drew worldwide criticism.

Washington has suggested a possible compromise to protect US troops from prosecution by the new international war crimes tribunal and maybe save the UN peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.

Despite vehement American opposition, the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal will become a reality on July 1, with support from US allies and nations from every continent.