The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that international pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme must continue, after reformist Hassan Rouhani was elected president.

"The international community should not fall into wishful thinking and be tempted to ease pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme,

"Iran will be judged on its actions. If it insists on continuing to develop its nuclear programme the answer needs to be clear - stopping its nuclear programme by any means."

Hassan Rouhani, the sole reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential election, has won the presidential elections according to state-run Press TV.

The cleric and former nuclear negotiator with western powers enjoyed a surge in support the last week of campaign.

At the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation on Wednesday, UN member states reiterated their support for the Saharawi's people's right to self-determination, including representatives from Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba.

Xavier Lasso from Ecuador said his country supported the 'legitimate aspiration of the Saharawi people' and called for an end to the "military occupation of this non-autonomous territory".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed assertions made by the US that Syria has used chemical weapons against rebels.

Lavrov said it made "no sense" for President Assad, who also denies the claims, to use chemical weapons as "the regime has not been driven into a corner".

The US meanwhile has decided to keep Patriot missiles and F-16s in Jordan, after recent training exercises. Lavrov criticised the decision, saying that any attempt to use the F-16s to impose a no-fly zone over Syria would violate international law.

"The Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, has agreed with the Libyan government that the repatriation from South Africa of Libyan funds and assets will be handled in terms of United Nations (UN) protocols."

"The decision was informed by the fact that the government of Libya established a single body in 2012 to co-ordinate the repatriation of assets to Libya,"

The US has said it will provide arms to the Syrian opposition, after confirming that chemical weapons had been used by the regime.

"Following a deliberative review our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year," said a White House statement.

According  to Human Rights Watch a new law passed by the Ecuadorian government seriously undermines free speech in the country.

The Communications Law that the Ecuadorian National Assembly approved on June 14 2013, includes discursive language that has a strong potential of limiting the free expression of journalists and media outlets.

Latest figures from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights say that over 93,000 people have died in Syria since November 2012.

Over 80% of the dead are reported to be men, however the report by the OHCHR says over 1,700 children under 10 also died.

There were "cases of individual children being tortured and executed, and entire families, including babies, being massacred - which, along with this devastatingly high death toll, is a terrible reminder of just how vicious this conflict has become," said OHCHR head Navi Pillay.