The French foreign minister Laurent Fabius has confirmed that france will vote in support of Palestine’s bid to become a non-member state at the United Nations General Assembly.

"You know that for years and years France's consistent position has been the recognition of the Palestinian state," Fabius said to the lower house of parliament.

"That is why when the question is raised on Thursday and Friday, France will respond with a 'yes'."

Unidentified gunmen, thought to be separatist rebels, have attacked a police station in Indonesia’s Papua province.

Three policemen were killed when dozens of gunmen attacked the station and set it alight.

Indonesian security forces have been increasing security in anticipation of the independence declaration anniversary coming up on December 1.

"We had identified the hotspots in Papua and even prepared additional troops from the mobile brigade," said Sr Cdr Wachjono, chief detective of the Papua police.

The Spanish government has said it would not enter talks with Basque separatist group ETA, after the group offered to hold discussions to bring about a “definitive end” to its armed struggle.

The country’s interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said that there would be no negotiations with a "terrorist organisation".

“They know that we have not negotiated nor will we negotiate in any way with the terrorist organisation.

"evidence collected by my office will remain available to judicial authorities in the former Yugoslavia to facilitate national prosecutions for the crimes committed in connection with Operation Storm."

"The fact is that it is not Croatia that freed the generals, but that the highest legal authorities in The Hague decided that our generals are not guilty… It's a matter of respect toward the international community and international law."

"It's not going well with Croatia… He wants us to talk — me as the president of a nation which has committed crimes, and him as the president of a nation which has not been convicted of anything."

"Croatians know that the crime committed during the Storm is awful, but they still celebrate because no one was convicted… They are a nation on a wrong path."

“When indictment was issued against Ratko Mladić in the Srebrenica case, we did not even wait for the guilty verdict, the (Serbian) parliament immediately passed a resolution condemning the Srebrenica crime. Our government arrested (Ratko) Mladić and extradited him to the Hague. I know it (Srebrenica) was a crime, and I will never say that it was not."

Pro-Catalan independence parties won a majority in the region's election on Sunday.

Artur Mas' centre-right CiU part won 50 sets out of 135 and the left-wing separatist ERC won 21.

Speaking to reporters after the election results, Mas stressed that his disappointing result - 62 seats down from last year - was a reflection of austerity cuts and not reflective of separatism.

The Egyptian stock market took a plunge Sunday, the first day it was open since the president's announcement of his widening powers and exemption from judicial review.

The decree has sparked protests and strong opposition.

Meanwhile, news came that the President Mohamed Mursi will meet senior members of the judiciary on Monday, in order to resolve the situation.

Leaders of four African countries have called on M23 rebels to stop fighting and withdraw from the city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Reublic of Congo (DRC).

President Kabila of the DRC, and the presidents of Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya met in Kampala on Sunday. Rwanda was represented by its foreign minister.

The leaders issued a statement calling on the rebels to "stop all war activities and withdraw from Goma" and "stop talk of overthrowing an elected government".