Mali has requested that the United Nations deploy an international force in the north of the country, to help recapture territory captured by Islamic rebels, according to the French Foreign Minister.

Citing a letter sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon by Mali’s leaders, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that Mali has requested an international force "to help the Malian army to reconquer the occupied areas of northern Mali".

Speaking at a United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, outlined that a strong rule of law was the backbone for legal protection of human rights.

She stressed the importance of states taking on the responsibility to uphold a rule of  law that was based on UN developed international human rights laws.

The two US marines who were filmed urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters have been recommended for a trial by court martial, according to the Pentagon.

Staff sergeants Joseph Chamblin and Edward Deptola will face the court martial, a month after three of their colleagues were given administrative punishments for their role in the incident.

German prosecutors have launched a war crimes investigation into an 87-year-old former SS guard who now lives in the United States, after years of failed American efforts to deport him and strip him of his US citizenship.

The Nigerian military said 35 members of Boko Haram were killed and several arrested during overnight violence in Damaturu.

In a statement, the Joint Task Force spokesperson Eli Lazarus said,

A group of citizen journalists have been jailed for up to twelve years in Vietnam for blogging about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy.

Nguyen Van Hai, Ta Phong Tan and Phan Thanh Hai, founding members of the ‘Free Journalists’ Club’ were found guilty of spreading “propaganda against the state”, and were handed sentences ranging from four to twelve years in jail.

The Israeli government has ruled out any changes to the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Egyptians "shouldn't try to delude themselves or delude others," whilst talking to Israel Radio.

A former Guatemalan army commander accused of war crimes has been extradited from Canada to the United States to face immigration charges.

54-year-old Jorge Sosa is accused of leading a counter-insurgency force of the Guatemalan military in 1982 known as the “Kabiles”. He is alleged to have overseen a massacre of over 200 civilians whilst leading a patrol in 1982, with member of the patrol also raping women and girls before killing them.

The interim Libyan leader Mohammad al-Magarief has vowed to disband all ‘illegitimate’ militias in the country, after the killing of the US ambassador Christopher Stevens.

In a press conference on Saturday, Magarief said that all militias which are not under government authority would be disbanded.

Hardline Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to retain his leadership despite the opposition’s call for voters to boycott parliamentary elections.

The two main opposition parties urged voters not to participate in, what they see as, a sham exercise by the Lukashenko leadership to retain power.

As protests against an anti-Islam film continue around the world, a Pakistani minister has offered a reward to anyone that kills the maker of ‘Innocence of Muslims’.

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told a news conference on Saturday:

Belarus has denied accusations from the United States that they were attempting to supply weapons to Syria, after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on   state-owned Belarusian company earlier this week.

The state-owned arms company Belvneshpromservice was accused by the US Treasury of supplying fuses for bombs used by the Syrian military via Syria’s Army Supply Bureau and had sanctions placed on it earlier this week.

The Free Syrian Army moved its main comman centre from Turkey to Syria, the group announced on Saturday.