Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam said he wants to be transferred to The Hague to face trial.

"I am not afraid to die but if you execute me after such a trial you should just call it murder and be done with it," Saif al-Islam said according to documents submitted to the ICC by his lawyers.

US President Obama, has signed a secret order authorising 'intelligence finding' assistance by the CIA and other agencies to the Syrian rebels, reports the Reuters news agency.

According Reuters the exact extent of assistance remains unclear, however, it will not include giving the rebels arms.

The Indian government has announced it will allow investment from Pakistani citizens and companies in India.

A press release by the commerce ministry said all foreign direct investment from Pakistan will need to be approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Investments cannot be made in defence, space or atomic energy.

A report by Human Rights Watch released earlier on Wednesday found that Myanmar troops shot at Muslims, committed rape and failed to protect Muslims from mobs during deadly ethnic clashes in June.

The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran’s energy sector and some financial companies.

President Obama said the existing sanctions had been made more difficult to evade “by making sanctionable the purchase or acquisition of Iranian petrochemical products".

Iran has been trying to get around sanctions, including by using gold instead of cash as payment.

South Sudan and Sudan are unlikely to reach an agreement before the UN deadline ends on Thursday.

Despite recent talks, the two states failed to find common ground on key issues such as security and oil.

Amnesty International held the Syrian government responsible for crimes against humanity in the largest city, Allepo and surrounding areas, in a report - ‘All-Out Repression’ - released on Wednesday.

Despite the obstacles imposed by the Syrian authorities the report outlined that Amnesty had been able to independently investigate the allegations of human rights violations on the ground in Syria and had established that, “the Syrian government is responsible for widespread, as well as systematic violations amounting to crimes against humanity.” 

The report concluded: “it is manifestly evident that the Syrian government has no intention of ending, let alone investigating, these crimes.”

A criminal court in Switzerland has ruled that former Algerian military chief Khaled Nezzar cannot claim immunity and can be tried outside Algeria for war crimes committed while he was in power in the early 90s.

A high court in Kenya has lifted the ban on the Mombassa Republican Council (MRC) - a group fighting for independence from Nairobi, and autonomy for Mombassa along with a strip of coastline - prompting celebrations along the streets of the city.

The UN secretary-general Ban-Ki Moon confirmed that Syrian tanks attacked a convoy carrying the head of the UN observer mission.  Although there were no injuries, a dozen armoured vehicles used as part of the observer mission have been destroyed by blasts and shelling.

Speaking to reporters, Ban Ki-Moon said,