At the launch of the paper, Salmond stated Scotland could ''more than afford to be independent'' adding,

"This document sets out the enormous attributes and key strengths of the Scottish economy across a diverse range of sectors. We have a vast array of human, financial and natural resources, which many other countries do not enjoy.

Rwandan President Paul kagame has denounced the UN’s peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying it has made the situation worse in some cases.

Speaking to the BBC, Kagame said that military action needed to be "properly co-ordinated" with political efforts.

"If you see what we had last year, the resurgence of the fighting and chaos and displacement of people and so on and so forth... what we witnessed last year - actually the situation got worse,” Kagame said.

US President Obama has praised the Burmese President Thein Sein, after he became the first Burmese leader to visit the White House since 1966.

Obama stated that Thein Sein had made "genuine efforts" to solve the Burma's ongoing ethnic conflict, a whilst also referring to the country as Myanmar - the name appointed by the country's military rulers, for the first time.

However he also expressed "deep concern" at violence against Muslims, adding,

"We have no conditions to resume negotiations,"

North Korea has been urged to end missile tests by UN Secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

"I hope that North Korea will refrain from such actions," Mr Ban told Russia's RIA Novosti news agency, after missile tests by North Korea on Saturday.

"It is time for them to resume dialogue and lower the tensions. The United Nations is willing to help."

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Farc rebels have called for ‘more time’ to be given for peace negotiations to take place with the Colombian government, after 6 months of talks between the warring parties.

The organisation’s lead negotiator Ivan Marque called for ‘more time’ stating,

"You have been watching the Giro d'Italia (cycle race). Some people want us to go at this pace, but if we go at this pace, we will fail."

A senior politician has been shot dead in Karachi the evening before a partial re-run of the general election in Saturday. 

Zahra Shahid Hussain was the vice president of Imran Khan's Pakistan's Movement for Justice party. 

The general election, which took place in on Saturday, was highly contested. The partial re-run was called after Imran Khan's party accused the dominant party of vote rigging and intimidation. 

The man, reportedly in his 80s, is the father of Faisal Mekdad, regarded as one of the most powerful voices in the Syrian government, who has repeatedly defended the actions of the regime in numerous media interviews.

Syrian rebels have been known to target family members of the regime in the past, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that

Ivorian officials have arrested Amade Oueremi, the leader of a militant group, suspected of carrying out massacres during violence after polls in 2011.

According to human rights groups, Oueremi and his fighters executed hundreds of supporters of the former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Gbagbo himself is currently facing trial for crimes against humanity at The Hague.

The speaker at the Pan-African Parliament, Bethel Amadi, called for the need to secure the Saharawi people's right to self-determination.

Addressing the parliamentary session in South Africa on Tuesday, Amadi said: