"France should have intervened a long time ago to stop this downward spiral,"

"The country has never known such a prolonged period of instability and violence."

The Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond released the Scottish National Party’s (SNP’s) independence blueprint, today.

The document, which put forward the argument that the Scottish nation would prosper if there was ‘yes’ vote in the referendum next year, outlined the possible benefits in various sectors such as childcare, health, defence, taxes and pensions.

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal (KLWCT) found former Israeli army general Amos Yaron and the state of Israel guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide.

The charges stemmed from the massacre of Palestinians who resided in refugee camps in Beirut during 1982.

"It is a huge opportunity for peace that shouldn't be wasted,"

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, has defended the recently concluded deal with Iran, which would see an easing of sanctions the country in return for some concessions by Teheran on its nuclear programme.

"Huge challenges remain, but we cannot close the door on diplomacy, and we cannot rule out peaceful solutions to the world's problems," Obama said in San Francisco.

Iranian officials met with six other world powers in Geneva to reach an agreement, during the fourth day of negotiations, on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Negotiators from the UK, US, Russia, China, France and Germany intending to stop Iran enriching uranium in return for the loosening of sanctions on the nation, reaching a signed agreement  on Sunday morning.

An influential group of Afghan elders has called for a security pact with the US to be signed by the end of this year.

The pact, which would allow US troops to remain in the country past 2014, is being delayed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said he wants the US to bring peace to the country first.

The US has said the delaying of the pact is neither “practical nor possible”.

The Turkish Ambassador in Cairo has been expelled after Turkey’s Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for overthrown president Mohammad Morsi to be released from detention.

Egypt’s foreign ministry accused Turkey of interfering in its internal affairs, with spokesperson Badr Abdelatty saying that Turkey was "attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organisations that seek to create instability in the country".

"We can't speak of a genocide of an ethnic or social group,"