A petition by thousands of Americans is urging the United States to press for a UN-led probe into alleged crimes against humanity in Myanmar, saying the country needs accountability to move ahead.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International urged the European Union and its member states to also lend their support to the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sept. 26, 2011. (Xinhua)

China has protested renewed arms sales by the US to Taiwan, but the threats of retaliatory action have been described as ‘restrained’ by commentators.

Taiwan requested the sale of F-16 fighter jets but the US decided to ‘only’ upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet in a deal worth $5.85 billion.

Two weeks ago, an announcement appeared on a French website, calling for "militants with military experience" to participate in a trip to Israel between September 19 and 25.

55 French citizens responded and travelled to the West Bank.

The Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist party may next year have a new member – the country's richest tycoon.

See the BBC’s report here.

National Transitional Council authorities discovered the remains of over 1270 Libyans killed by the Gaddafi regime more than fifteen years ago.

The victims were all prisoners at the Abu Salim prison, massacred during a protest against conditions on 26th June 1996.

It is understood that international assistance will be sought to identify the remains.

"If you're going to act against the fundamental rights, liberties and the law, you will lose your position in my heart as my brother and my friend.

I was very patient. Patience, patience, patience. And then I cracked."

"International pressure will increase until the regime heeds the calls for an immediate end to violence, the release of political prisoners and genuine change. Assad is isolated internationally and things will never return to the way they were. He should step aside now."

"Countries across the region have called for Assad to end the violence immediately. This week in New York, I made clear to Security Council members that they too must increase the pressure on Syria. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, has also made this clear."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formally asked the UN to recognise the state of Palestine on Friday, despite sustained US-Israeli efforts to stall the move.

In a speech that was welcomed with a standing ovation and applause, Abbas stated,

A senior Kosovo politician and former rebel leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has been placed under house arrest by an EU judge. Fatmir Limaj has been accused of committing war crimes in the Kosovo War between the KLA and the former Yugoslavia.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced compensation will be paid to those killed or injured on Bloody Sunday.

"We acknowledge the pain felt by these families for nearly 40 years, and that members of the armed forces acted wrongly. For that, the government is deeply sorry," said a MoD spokesman on Thursday. "We are in contact with the families' solicitors and where there is a legal liability to pay compensation we will do so."

However, some families of victims are reported to have rejected any compensation until there is at least one successful prosecution of a soldier.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the UN to founding principles and responsibility "to stand up against regimes that persecute their people."

Ex-IRA leader, Martin McGuinness launched his campaign to be elected Ireland's next president on Monday.

McGuinness, currently the first minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly, was the commander in the Irish Republican Army for the city of Londonderry. He was jailed in the 1970s, charged with possession of bomb-making equipment and ammunition.

Criticising the 'media fixation' on his time with the IRA, McGuinness stated,

“I don’t think I would have been invited to the Oval Office on three occasions to meet with three American presidents, or to Johannesburg to meet with Nelson Mandela, or to Brussels to meet with the president of the European Union, and indeed many other countries throughout the world, if people thought that my credentials in relation to the search for peace were in any way in doubt.”

Mc Guinness is considered to have been an integral part to the signing of the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

The Agreement acknowledged that the views of both sides were legitimate. 

It included provisions for the release of paramilitary prisoners, as well as the 'normalisation' of the British security forces in Northern Ireland. Specifically it involved the removal of special emergency powers in Northern Ireland, reduction in the numbers of British armed forces deployed in Northern Ireland and the removal of British security installations.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged the UN to support the Syrian people against the repressive measures taken by the Syrian Government, as members of the Arab League called for a suspension of Syria and Yemen from the body headquartered in Damascus.

Sarkozy called on the UN to provide the same assistance to the Syrian people as to the Libyans.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly shortly after President Obama urged the Palestinians to abandon their bid for UN membership, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned a Security Council veto against the Palestinian statehood bid, 'risks engendering a cycle of violence in the Middle East'.

Sarkozy's comments expose a clear divide between France and the United States, who have repeatedly asserted that the US will veto any such resolution at the Security Council.

Sarkozy said,

“Let us cease our endless debates on the parameters. Let us begin negotiations and adopt a precise timetable.”

"Each of us knows that Palestine cannot immediately obtain full and complete recognition of the status of United Nations member state,"

"But who could doubt that a veto at the Security Council risks engendering a cycle of violence in the Middle East?"

"Why not envisage offering Palestine the status of United Nations observer state? This would be an important step forward. Most important, it would mean emerging from a state of immobility that favors only the extremists.”