Photograph BBC news

Children lay poppies in Trafalgar Square, London

Across the world, nations remembered their war dead on Friday 11th November, Armistice Day.
 
The date marks the anniversary of Germany signing the Armistice agreement on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. 
 
In the UK, the Remembrance Day ceremony was held at the Cenotaph. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said,

"We stand together to honour the incredible courage and sacrifice of generations of British servicemen and women who have given their lives to protect the freedoms that we enjoy today."

"We stop to say thank you. And to remember those who are no longer with us but whose sacrifice and valour will be honoured long after we are gone. 

Observing Veterans Day, President Obama hosted a veterans breakfast at the White House, before laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and speaking at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Speaking at Arlington cemetry, Obama said,

“On behalf of a proud and grateful nation, we thank you.”

The Russian foreign ministry has ruled out plans by the US, Britain and France to impose new sanctions on Iran following the release of a UN report that claims Iran may be trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Russian deputy foreign minister, Gennadi Gatilov, told Interfax news agency

“The world community will see all additional sanctions against Iran as an instrument of regime change in Tehran,”

Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have expressed outrage at Commander Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, who is wanted by the Congolese government for his involvement in the 2010 mass rape commited in the Walikale area of eastern Congo, standing to represent the very same district in Parliament.

Between July to August 2010, Sheka, the leader of the Congolese rebel group Mai-Mai Sheka, led his troops through  13 villages in Walikale, raping hundreds of villagers, including children and elderly women. Over 116 people were reportedly abducted.

A former Bosnian Serb soldier has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.

The defendant, Sasa Baricanin, was found guilty of murder, enslavement and rape by a war crimes court in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The court heard how he had broken into a family apartment and shot several of the residents dead, before repeatedly raping one of the females there. He then came back with a colleague and proceeded to rape her for several days.

The Chief Prosecutor in the UN tribunal for war crimes has asked Serbian authorities to probe into how Ratko Mladic and another suspect were able to evade arrest and who helped them to do so.

Serge Brammertz, prosecotur for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia made the statement as he visited Serbia, ahead of delivering a report to the UN Security Council on Serbia’s compliance with the war crimes trial.

31 Hindus have been jailed for life for the killing of 33 Muslims during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

A mob burned down a house where a group of Muslims were sheltering from violence during riots that engulfed the Indian state of Gujarat.

41 others were acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence.

A former Somali colonel living in Ohio is to be prosecuted for torturing a human rights activist in 1988.

Abdi Aden Magan sought to have the case dismissed by a federal court by arguing it was filed in the wrong country and too long after the alleged abuse occurred.

Plaintiff Abukar Hassan Ahmed filed a case against Magain in 2010, alleging the colonel was responsible for his detention and torture.

The international prosecutor for the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia, has stated that he is confident of prosecutions against four former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, as the case goes to trial later this month.

Speaking to Voice of America Khmer, Andrew Cayley said,

 “I think that the case is a very strong one against these individuals because of the size and scope of the crimes that were committed.

A former military general has been elected president of Guatemala.

Otto Perez Molina, of the conservative Patriotic Party, won 56% of the vote, with an election campaign centred on his “iron-fist” approach to rampant crime.

Perez is the first ex-military leader to be chosen to lead the country since the end of military rule in 1986.

During the 36 year long conflict, which ended in 1996, more than 200,000 people, mostly Mayan, were thought to have been killed.