The Turkish government is to submit a reform to parliament allowing defendants to speak in languages other than Turkish in court.

The ruling has significant implications on Kurdish militants, who have been on hunger strike for 56 days so far, with one of their key demands being the right to speak in Kurdish at trial.

Almost 700 Kurdish inmates have been refusing solid food protesting for greater Kurdish minority rights.

The Haqqani network has been placed on the UN Security Council’s Taliban sanctions list.

The Pakistani network, close to the Taliban and other militant organisations, has been blamed for many high profile attacks, including last year’s attack on the US embassy in Kabul, which killed sixteen Afghans.

The sanctions include arms embargos, the freezing of assets and travel bans for members of the network.

The US added the Haqqani network to its list of terrorist groups in September.

A preliminary hearing has begun for US soldier Sgt Robert Bales for the murder of 16 Afghan villagers, mostly women and children, in the Afghan province of Kandahar in March earlier this year.

Sgt Robert Bales faces 16 counts of murder with premeditation, six counts of premeditated attempted murder, six counts of assault, as well as charges of impeding the investigation, use and possession of steroids and the consumption of alcohol, forbidden to US soldiers in Afghanistan, reported the New York Times.

Nine of the dead were children, with 11 of the victims coming from the same family. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

With live video witness testimony from Afghanistan reported to be used during the trial, the Spiegel spoke to one of the deceased’s father Mohammed Wazir, who lost 6 children in the massacre.

He was quoted as saying,

"I do not cry. I have 10 fingers on my hands. Such was my pain that day, as if someone had cut off all 10 of my fingers. I had seven children. Now I am left with one son. It doesn't bring the dead to life if I cry."

"Why didn't the murderer wait for me... Why did he kill my children but not wait for me?"

We want to see this man hang,... I won't speak his name, I don't want to dirty my mouth. I would like to hang him myself. I'll go to America to the Mahkama [court], to the great court, to see him hang. Then my heart will be calm."

A UN human rights investigator, who was investigating alleged violations in South Sudan, has been expelled, after being accused of publishing “unethical” reports.

The report is thought to be a publication from August, which accuses the country’s army of torture, rapes, killings and abductions.

The UN condemned the move, saying it was a breach of South Sudan’s legal obligations.

A Rwandan man has been charged with taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and now faces trial in Sweden, the first case of its kind in the Nordic country.

The man, now a Swedish citizen, is alleged to have shot, stabbed and thrown hand grenades at ethnic Tutsis, during the 100-day massacre that saw around 800,000 dead.

Special prosecutor Magnus Elvin told Reuters,

Two people, identified as foreign workers, have been killed in a series of bomb blasts in Bahrain’s capital city, Manama on Monday.

A string of five explosions in the city have been described by Bahraini officials as acts of terrorism, and come less than a week after Bahrain banned all protest gatherings.

The dead victims were workers from India and Bangladesh and another Indian man was also wounded.

Activists have claimed that Syrian rebels have captured an oil field in eastern Syria.

Al-Ward oil field was captured by the rebels after several days of fighting, reported the Syrian Human Rights Observatory.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the UK-based Observatory, said: "Rebels in the Jaafar Tayyar Brigade took control of al-Ward oilfield, east of the town of Mayadin, after a siege that lasted several days."

Around 40 troops were killed in the attack, according to Mr Rahman.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has sparked widespread anger and condemnation within the Palestinian territories and abroad for publicly waiving his right to return to live in his town of birth.

Talking to Israeli Channel 2 about Safed, his town of birth from which his family fled in 1948, Abbas said:

"I visited Safed before once, he said. "But I want to see Safed. It's my right to see it, but not to live there."

The Syria National Council held talks on Sunday in Doha in an effort to form a more united coalition, and consider the possibility of transforming it into a government in exile.

Set to take place over four days, the talks are to include younger voices with a view to forming a stronger united leadership for the anti-Assad force.

Security forces in Kuwait have fired tear gas, stun grenades and smoke bombs at protestors who were demonstrating against new electoral laws due to be enforced in December.

The protestors organized via Twitter, after the planned demonstration was declared illegal by the government with police sealing off the original protest site. Despite many roads being blocked, around 2,000 protestors were thought to have demonstrated and several dozens thought to have been arrested.