The Friends of Syria, consisting of several countries, including the US, the EU and the Arab League urged the Syrian opposition to unite in their fight against Assad.

At a meeting in New York, the Syrian opposition has been promised $45 million in non-lethal aid by the US, of which $30 million will be humanitarian aid.

“We are working to help them strengthen their networks, avoid regime persecution and document human rights abuses,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters.

Three Commonwealth Nobel Peace prizewinners - the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace laureate Nadine Gordimer, and Nobel literature winner Wole Soyinka, have slammed the newly proposed Commonwealth charter as "repetitive rhetoric", and called on the UK and other countries not to sign it.

In an open letter, the trio asserted that the charter fails to detail the consequences of member states violating such core principles, and said,

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the US will allow imports of Burmese goods.

The ban on the imports was one of the key sanctions that are still remaining against the Burmese government.

The latest move is a continuation of the normalisation of relations between the US and Burma. Speaking to the Burmese president during talks at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Clinton said:

Addressing the UN general Assembly in New York, Burma’s president, Thein Sein, paid tribute to opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Referring, for the first time, to Aung San Suu Kyi as a Nobel laureate, Thein Sein congratulated her on the honours she recently received in the US.

“As a Mayanmar citizen, I would like to congratulate her for the honours she has received in this country in recognition of her efforts for democracy,” he said.

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The former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has been subjected to a travel ban, preventing him from leaving the capital Male.

A court ruled that Nasheed needs to seek the court’s permission if he wants to leave the capital, a move which, according to the court, is standard procedure ahead of the several court cases he is facing.

Supporters of Nasheed have criticised the travel ban and accused the government of restricting the former president’s ability to campaign for elections next year.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office expressed 'regret' at the recent elections that took place in Belarus on 23rd September.

In a statement, the FCO spokesperson, felt that the Belarus elections were "neither free nor fair".

The spokesperson said,

“We note the OSCE assessment that the elections were neither free nor fair. This is clearly disappointing. Whilst we welcome the improvements to the electoral law made in advance of these elections, they did not go far enough. We call on the government of Belarus to work constructively with the OSCE on further reforms. 

Mali has requested that the United Nations deploy an international force in the north of the country, to help recapture territory captured by Islamic rebels, according to the French Foreign Minister.

Citing a letter sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon by Mali’s leaders, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that Mali has requested an international force "to help the Malian army to reconquer the occupied areas of northern Mali".

He continued to say the letter said,

Speaking at a United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, outlined that a strong rule of law was the backbone for legal protection of human rights.

She stressed the importance of states taking on the responsibility to uphold a rule of  law that was based on UN developed international human rights laws.